


The Little MerZayn

by PigSlay



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, Aromantic Character, M/M, Other, some minor T-rated jokes but nothing huge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-10 18:24:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6968887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PigSlay/pseuds/PigSlay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Little Mermaid AU where Zayn is Ariel and Niall is Prince Eric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daydreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Myriad_Nice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myriad_Nice/gifts).



> I don’t know One Direction, but I’m pretty sure Zayn isn’t a mermaid, so this isn’t real. ;) I also don’t own The Little Mermaid. 
> 
> Oh my gosh. Okay, this fic, this fic right here. When I first started writing it, I didn’t expect it to be very long, especially not 25K STINKIN WORDS. Anyway, I really, really, REALLY hope you like it, especially the person receiving it. It may not have been exactly what you intended for this prompt, but I hope you enjoy it anyway? 
> 
> Anyway, thank you so, so much to my friend Janee for staying up late with me to work on this whopper of a fic. I really am proud of it and I couldn’t have done it without you. Also thank you to the mods for the deadline extension. Phew, I don’t think this thing would’ve been anywhere close to being done without that week’s extension. Also, thank you so much for putting on this fic exchange all together. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :’)
> 
> Edit: Oh my gosh I just went back to my assignment for the first time since completing this fic and I saw you actually said "I don't really want side pairings for this one". I'm so so so sorry. :( I don't think I can go back and just completely edit LiLo out at this point, but I really hope you know I didn't include it purposely to annoy you, I was trying to make you happy bc you also like LiLo. I'm sorry, again... I hope you still enjoy the fic anyway though. :/

Zayn has always been fascinated by the human world. Ever since he was little and he and his friend Louis discovered what they now know is called a wrecked ship, he’s been amazed by their culture and inventions.

The thing that fascinates him most though, is their art. When he and Louis first found the ship and looked through all the things it had on it, Louis was really interested in a little circle-shaped black-and-white thing called a ‘foot ball’, but as for Zayn, he immediately zoomed in on the things known as ‘paintings’ and ‘art’.

“Yeah, humans create those by dipping these things called brushes into different colored water and putting them together to make a picture like this one,” Zayn’s friend named Scuttle had told him. It was mostly gibberish to Zayn, but he knew one thing for sure: he needed to find these brushes and colored waters so he could make some himself.

“Where can I find those?” Zayn asked. “The brushes and the colored water I mean?”

Scuttle frowned. “Unfortunately they’re only available to use on land. If you were to use them in the sea, they wouldn’t work.”

Zayn had been sad. He really wanted to be able to make this, this “art”, but he couldn’t do that from the sea.

That was five years ago. Zayn is now sixteen, and still dreams of one day becoming a human so he can become a real artist. His family and friends (other than Louis) think he’s weird, but he doesn’t care.

Even though Zayn’s dream of becoming a human is never going to happen, he still does little things he can underwater, like finding rocks and using sticks to draw tiny things on them. It’s not much, but it makes him happy. He doesn’t share them with anyone other than Louis and Scuttle, but the two of them are all he needs. They always compliment him on his work and encourage him to keep making more.

***

Today is a special day. It’s Zayn’s dad’s birthday, and the whole kingdom has gathered to celebrate. Zayn and his sisters have all been practicing for weeks, preparing to sing a version of their dad’s favorite song – called “Flower” – for the occasion.

In addition to art, Zayn has a huge passion for singing. So when his oldest sister, Doniya, pitched the idea several weeks ago that they should all sing a song together for their dad’s birthday, Zayn was 100% for it.

As he and his sisters get ready for their cues, Zayn feels his nerves building up. It must show, because Waliyha taps his shoulder and asks silently, “Hey, you okay?”

Zayn nods a little too quickly. “Just a bit nervous is all… I really hope dad likes it…”

“He will,” Waliyha assures him, gently rubbing his arm. “His children are surprising him with a performance of his favorite song, why wouldn’t he?”

“I’m just afraid of sounding terrible…”

“Psh,” she scoffs. “Zayn, please. Your voice is amazing.”

He smiles at that and gives her a small cheek kiss, so thankful that he has the best sisters in the world.

“Okay guys,” Doniya says, getting their attention. “Get ready. It’s about time.”

Zayn relaxes his shoulders and takes deep breaths. In, out. In, out. _Okay_ , he thinks. _I’m ready_.

“…Your children have a surprise for you,” his mother calls from outside, then the platform rises and Zayn and his sisters start singing the beginning of “Flower”.

After the song is over and all the kids have said 'happy birthday' to their dad, Zayn sees Louis in the corner and sneaks over to him.

“Hey Louis!” He says immediately, giving him a hug. “So glad you could come.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss that amazing voice for the world,” he winks cheekily.

“Please.” Zayn giggles, then bends down a little bit so only Louis can hear his next words. “Did you find something new?”

“I think so,” Louis whispers back. “Come on, follow me.”

“Okay!” Zayn is excited for whatever it is. New human stuff is the best.

He and Louis swim away from the building without thinking twice, Zayn just the tiniest bit aware of his parents staring down their backs as they go.

***

“Here it is!” Louis announces as the two of them finally hover over the place it apparently is. All Zayn sees is a heavy looking rock with some bushes around it, but soon Louis lifts up the rock and reveals something. “Here!” he repeats.

As he picks up the small circle shaped object though, he frowns. “It’s not black and white like my foot balls. Are they making them different now?”

Zayn shrugs. “Wanna go ask Scuttle?”

“Sure,” Louis replies, still frowning at the object.

The two of them rise to the surface and it’s like Scuttle was waiting for them – either that or he never leaves that spot, probably the second one.

“Hi guys,” Scuttle says happily. “Happy birthday to your dad, Zayn! How did the party go?”

“Thank you,” Zayn tells him. “It went well. He was really happy with our performance, so that’s great.” As he smiles, he feels a bit of guilt for checking out of his dad’s party early.

Louis clears his throat and brings Zayn back to reality. “So sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled sitting and staring into the distance, Scuttle, but I have a question.”

Scuttle laughs loudly, not at all offended by Louis’ sass. “Of course, that’s what I’m here for.”

“Right, so I found this thing,” Louis holds it up. “And I thought it was another one of those foot balls I love but it’s not black and white, are humans changing the colors of the foot balls now or something?”

After investigating the object for a moment, Scuttle shakes his head. “No, that’s not a football. It is another type of ball humans play with though. Called a softball.”

“Soft ball?” Louis chuckles, biting his lips. “Why would anyone want to name something that? Humans are weird, man.”

Zayn laughs as well, Scuttle just shaking his head at both of them.

When the two boys are finally able to breathe again, Louis clears his throat. “Well thank you for telling me, Scuttle.”

“Yeah thanks Scuttle,” Zayn echoes.

“Of course,” Scuttle says as the two of them start to go underwater again. “Anytime.”

“Well now what?” Zayn asks Louis as they’re swimming back down stream. “Do you want to keep it or throw it up to the surface since it’s not one of your foot balls?”

“Nah, that would be a waste,” Louis decides, then lights up. “How about we do something artsy with it instead?”

“Like what?” Zayn questions. “There’s not exactly enough space on it to use a stick to draw on it or anything like that…” The most Zayn could probably draw on it would be a line, which isn’t very fun.

“No, no, no,” Louis pushes. “Those things we learned about last month when we found that statue thing or whatever. Scuttle called it a sculpture. Let’s make a sculpture!”

Zayn grins. He has been wanting to try making a sculpture ever since seeing that. He doesn’t know how he didn’t think of it sooner.

***

The two of them are in their secret hideout right now, a place no one else but them knows about, where they store some of their various human supplies.

Right now they’ve taken the softball, as well as a few rocks, a phone, etc. and they’re trying to make a sculpture of a human together.

It’s not going as well as it could be; the legs keep falling down from too many rocks being stacked together. Eventually the two of them decide to just let their sculpture lay on the ground, getting too frustrated from trying to make it stand up.

Louis decides one of his footballs would work best as the head.

“Are you sure?” Zayn asks. “You never give up your foot balls.”

“Zayn please,” Louis scoffs. “I’m not ‘giving it up’. I’m contributing to our sculpture. Besides, it’ll still be here with the rest of our stuff right?”

“Right.” Zayn nods, smiling as he makes the phone the mouth and two seashells the eyes. Swimming back a bit, Zayn looks down at the sculpture and smiles.

“Do you love it?” Louis asks him, a smile coming over his face as well.

“I do!” Zayn calls, giving Louis a big hug. “Thank you so much for making it with me, it’s great.”

“Right back at’cha,” Louis hugs back.

Suddenly, the two boys hear a gasp behind them. They turn around and Zayn’s head immediately starts spinning. It’s Waliyha.

“DADDY!” She starts yelling. “Daaaadddddy!”

She starts swimming away quickly and Zayn takes a second to recover from the shock of seeing her face, but thankfully Louis gets her before she goes too far, covering her mouth before she can do anymore screaming.

“Waliyha,” Zayn says when Louis brings her to him. “What are you doing here?”

Louis releases his hand from her mouth, but keeps a firm grip on her arms. Searching for hidden footballs under heavy rocks obviously made him stronger, Zayn thinks.

She grumbles and tries to fight back to release herself, but eventually sighs and gives in. “I saw Zayn sneaking off with you during the party and I wanted to see what he was up to. So I followed him.” She pauses.

“Well, after I made up an excuse to daddy first. He’s very mad you know, about the fact you two left so early. Next time you wanna sneak off, come up with a good excuse first.”

Zayn raises an eyebrow and gives Louis an impressed look, which he returns. Waliyha is very smart for her age. Still though…

“Please don’t tell,” Zayn begs. He feels awkward having to beg to his little sister, but whatever it takes… “I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?” She raises her eyebrows.

“Yes, anything,” he promises.

She thinks for a second, then smirks. “Fine, I won’t tell. On one condition.” Zayn holds his breath, preparing for the worst. “I get to go with you guys on your next weird adventure.”

He looks at her, not sure what ‘weird adventures’ she means. She huffs. “You and Louis always get to do all the fun stuff. Doniya and Safaa are no fun. All they talk about is what merman looks the hottest and boring stuff like that. I wanna do something fun for once, something dangerous.”

“We don’t… do dangerous things,” Louis laughs awkwardly.

Waliyha snorts, not buying it for a second. “Look around this place. You all are standing in a collection of human things, and they don’t exactly have that kind of stuff just waiting at the local shops or anything. I want in on the next adventure. To understand what all this ‘art’ and ‘football’ or whatever business is all about. Pleeeease?”

Zayn thinks for a minute, then says, “Okay.”

“Yes!” she cheers. Louis lets her go, but not before shooting Zayn an obviously uncomfortable look.

She doesn’t leave the hideaway yet, deciding to stick around and study the sculpture for a minute.

“Zayn, can I talk to you for a second?” Louis asks, fake smile written all across his face.

“Of course…” Zayn responds, the two of them swimming over toward a corner away from Waliyha.

Louis immediately slaps him. “Are you out of your mind? Waliyha is a _child_. I don’t mind risking my life by doing this stuff, but she’s just a kid!”

“It was either that or get found out by dad,” Zayn reminds him. Louis sighs, still unconvinced. Zayn rolls his eyes. “Look, I understand your concerns, but all we do is look at wrecked ships and ask a bird what things are. How could things go wrong from that?”

“Oh yeah you make it sound so simple when you say it like that. The reality though, Zayn, is we’re playing a very difficult game here. If we got caught, if _she_ got caught along with us-”

“Well we’re not going to,” he says, 100% sure of himself. “She’s my little sister, Lou. I would give up everything to protect her. Besides, we’ve been doing this for a long time and have never gotten caught yet. What could go wrong now?”

Louis grumbles, but eventually gives in. “Fine. But I hope you know what you’re doing here, Zayn.” He heads back over to Waliyha, who is asking what the heck the sculpture is supposed to be.

Zayn smiles as he watches the two of them, then silently prays that he knows what he’s doing too…

***

Even though Waliyha gave her word not to tell their mom or dad about where Zayn and Louis snuck off to, that still doesn’t stop Zayn from getting into trouble for sneaking off altogether.

“That was completely disrespectful, what you did!” his mom is yelling at him now.

“I know, I know,” he responds sadly. “I’m sorry.” He’s in the castle right now, Louis by his side because he didn’t want him to have to deal with this alone. Waliyha split and went back to her other sisters, thinking it wouldn’t look good if their parents saw them together.

“Where did you even sneak off to?” His father demands. “I know you don’t like staying in crowds for very long, but you could’ve at least _said_ something before leaving. We were so worried something terrible had happened to you.”

“I know,” Zayn repeats, not sure what else to say. “I just got really excited when I saw Louis, and he said he wanted to show me something and… I wasn’t thinking.”

“That’s right, you weren’t!” his mother interjects. “How could you? _On his_ birthday _no less_!”

“Alright Trisha, calm down,” his father tells her. “I think that’s enough yelling.”

“I’m not yelling!” she insists, but stops anyway.

A few seconds pass, then his dad speaks again. “Now, let’s discuss punishment.”

Zayn gulps, trying to prepare for whatever it could be. “For the next week, you’re not allowed to go out at all.”

“What?” Zayn gasps. “Dad you can’t be serious!”

“Oh but I am,” he tells him, firm.

“All I did was sneak out! It’s not like I stole one of your presents or something!” Zayn really doesn’t like talking back to his parents, but he doesn’t want to go a week without getting to see his friends, especially Scuttle and Louis.

“Zayn,” his dad warns. “Not one more word or I’ll take away your singing privileges too.”

“But-”

“No ‘but’s! One week, no going out! That’s final!”

Zayn starts crying and swims away as fast as he can, not even caring who sees him as he just keeps going.

***

“I figured you’d be here.”

“Oh, hi Louis.” Zayn sniffles, staring down at the sculpture the two of them made just that day. “Yeah I’m here. Guess I’m asking for a death sentence since I snuck out after being told not to go out for a week…”

He pauses, trying to force himself to not cry. “Sorry I left you alone in there with my parents… Guess once again I wasn’t thinking…”

Louis frowns, swimming over and giving Zayn a hug from behind. “Zayn, there’s no need to apologize. You were really upset. I’ll tell you what.”

He lets go for a moment, swimming so he and Zayn are face to face. “I’ll join you. I won’t try to find new footballs for a week.” The two boys smile at each other sadly.

“Thanks Louis, but I don’t want you to suffer with me. And I doubt you could give up football for a week if you tried…”

Louis chuckles a little bit. “No I’m serious. I won’t go anywhere without you. Besides, who else would even understand my love for football except you? It’s not exactly a common practice down here, you know…”

Zayn giggles and smiles genuinely, pulling Louis in for another hug. “Thank you Louis. I love you.”

“I love you too.”


	2. Nightmares

One boring day passes of Zayn doing exactly what his dad asked: staying in his room, only coming out when it’s time for meals and singing practice with the girls. The one good thing about being stuck in his room is that he has been keeping a secret drawer of rocks and sticks to draw small things when he gets bored.

That only occupies him for so long though, before he starts wishing he had Louis by his side to talk to about football, to make sculptures with, and just get up to general shenanigans with that no one else they know understands the purpose of.

He feels the sniffles coming on again and tries his best to stop them, but they win out pretty quickly and he’s crying on the floor, holding close to a football Louis gave him a few birthdays ago.

Suddenly he hears a voice say “so sad to see you in this condition, child.” He jumps, trying to quickly hide the football because he’s scared it’s his dad or something.

“Who- who’s there?” He questions after putting the football safely back in its drawer. He looks around and picks up one of his sticks, trying to look as threatening as he can with how sad he feels.

A figure appears in front of him and he would scream, but the figure is covering his mouth. “Shh, put the stick down child. I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Oh yeah?” Zayn asks when his mouth is released. “How do I know that for sure? Who even are you anyway?”

“I am Winston. I’m just a man who couldn’t help but notice you’ve been grounded.”

Zayn looks at Winston like he’s lost his mind. “And how would you know that? Have you been stalking me or something?”

Winston just smirks, not answering the question. “I can help you Zayn. I’m aware of your, shall we say, desire for living on land and finding your passion as an artist?”

“So what?” Zayn questions. He puts the stick down, but keeps his guard up. “If you came here to tell me how much of a freak I am, I’ve heard it all before and am not really in the mood right now to hear it again, so if you could just…” He makes a motion with his hands to tell Winston to move along.

“I don’t think you’re a freak,” Winston tells him. “In fact, I wanna help make it come true.”

Zayn snorts. This guy is definitely out of his mind. “And how would you be able to do that exactly? ‘Magic’?” He makes mocking facial expressions and hand motions, but freezes with what Winston says next.

“Exactly.” He clears his throat. “A long time ago I discovered the ability to make my own magic down here, and am quite famous for it.”

“HA!” Zayn throws his head back, laughing. “If you’re supposedly so ‘famous’ for it, why have I never heard of you? Hmm?”

“Your parents probably didn’t want you to know…” Winston murmurs.

As much as it wouldn’t surprise Zayn if his parents really were to hide someone like that from him, he still doesn’t believe this guy for a second.

“No.” Zayn asserts. “Call me ridiculous for not wanting to trust a supposedly ‘magic’ man I’ve never even heard of, but I’m not doing it. Get out.” He walks back over to where he was sitting before, back turned to Winston.

“Okay,” Winston says. “If you change your mind though, I’m just around the corner.” A card lands in Zayn’s lap with Winston’s information on it, and when he turns around, Winston is gone.

“Psh,” Zayn scoffs, looking at the weird card. “Absolutely ridiculous…” He throws it under a random plant and returns to cuddling with Louis’ football.

***

It’s bedtime at the castle. Zayn’s parents and sisters have all said goodnight to him and vice versa. Zayn’s eyes are closed and he can feel himself just about to slip into unconsciousness…

“Zayn!” someone whisper-yells, shaking him. “Zayn wake up!”

Zayn’s eyes take a moment to adjust. “Oh hi Louis,” he smiles. “Here’s your football.”

He tries to hand it over, but Louis shakes his head. “Zayn that’s yours. I gave it to you several years ago remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Zayn giggles sleepily, mind not awake yet. “Good times…”

“Yeah, yeah, good times. Look Zayn you’ve gotta get up. There’s a ship outside.”

“A ship?!” That wakes him up. “Where?!”

“Shh,” Louis tells him. Somehow Zayn had completely forgotten his family are currently sleeping. After a few seconds of making sure no one’s coming, Louis continues quietly. “The ship is just a bit above us. And it’s storming up there, I think it’s gonna crash.”

In all Zayn and Louis’ years of searching ships for things, the two of them have never once experienced a shipwreck in real time. They’re always too late. Not this time though.

“Okay,” Zayn whispers, determined. “Let’s get it.”

“Sounds great,” a voice comes from the door, and the two boys almost scream before they realize who it is.

“Waliyha?!” Zayn whisper-yells. “You’re supposed to be asleep!”

She shrugs. “I’m a light sleeper. I could hear you and Louis talking from the other room. Don’t worry though, no one else is awake. Everyone else in this house would probably sleep through a rock crushing the castle to be honest.”

She sits down on the floor, touching a few of Zayn’s things. “Anyway, when are we gonna go to this ship thing?”

“ _We_ aren’t going anywhere,” Louis retorts. “ _You_ are going back to sleep while me and Zayn check it out.”

“Louis,” Zayn tries. “We promised her…”

Louis’ jaw drops open. “Zayn you can’t be serious.”

“A promise is a promise…”

“Not when there’s a freakin’ ship out there!” Louis looks absolutely appalled by what Zayn is saying. “She could get hurt or something.”

“She won’t,” Zayn insists. “Besides there’s two of us to watch over her. She’ll be safe.”

“Yeah there’s two of us but-”

“You know,” Waliyha interrupts, stretching. “The longer you two argue over me, the less time you have to catch the ship.”

She raises her eyebrows, gigantic smirk on her face. Zayn bites his lip, satisfied he was blessed with a sister almost as sassy as he is.

Louis looks back and forth at both of them, grumbling. “Fine! As long as she can keep up with us.”

“Oh I’m not worried about that,” Zayn giggles.

Then the three of them are off, sneaking out as quickly as they can while also being quiet.

***

The three of them follow the sounds they hear, eventually rising to the surface. Zayn quickly assesses the situation, and sees the humans have gotten out of the burning ship and into smaller, not-burning ships.

“Woah,” Waliyha mutters, staring at the burning ship. “That is so cool looking.”

Zayn snickers. It’s funny to him how, given the situation, that’s the first thing out of Waliyha’s mouth. Then again, maybe she doesn’t fully understand what’s going on since she hasn’t studied humans as much as Zayn and Louis have.

Zayn and Louis both realize a few seconds after the fact that she’s started swimming closer to the burning ship.

“Waliyha, no!” Zayn nearly yells, the two of them going underwater again and rushing to catch up to her before she can hurt herself.

The two of them grab her just before she can burn herself.

“What’s the big deal guys?” she asks. “I just wanted to see what the pretty lights looked like up close.”

“You almost got yourself hurt!” Zayn scolds. “Those ‘pretty lights’ can hurt you if you get too close and touch them.”

“See, Zayn, this is exactly why I said we shouldn’t bring her,” Louis starts. “She’s too young, too inexperienced with human stuff-”

Zayn stops listening to him though, because right at that moment he sees three people still on the boat. One of them in particular catches his eye: a tall, pale, blonde-haired human, holding what looks to be a self-portrait.

He rises to the surface, not thinking twice as he tries to listen in on what the humans are saying, especially the blonde one.

“Prince Niall,” a different human, one with something covering their hair, says. “I know I’m supposed to respect the prince’s wishes, but this is just ridiculous. You can’t swim out there.”

“You know the longer we talk about this, the more the ship is burning!” The blonde – Prince Niall – asserts. “Now look, I understand your concern Captain, but this boat is gonna sink any minute and we only have room for two more of us on the lifeboats. I’ll be okay. I know how to swim.”

Captain sighs. “Well it sounds like you’ve made up your mind. Be careful.”

Prince Niall nods. “I will be.” He hands the self-portrait to Captain and jumps into the water. Zayn watches as he starts swimming, mesmerized by the determination in his eyes. He sees why Prince Niall would want to make a self-portrait; if Zayn had a face like that he’d want to make like 7000 self-portraits.

“Zaaayn!” It takes him a moment to register the voice calling his name.

“Huh? Oh, hi Waliyha…”

Waliyha glares. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for like five minutes or something! What’s wrong with you?”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I… I just…”

Louis starts cackling before he can finish whatever sentence he was about to say. “Oh my gosh, that human has you sprung.”

“Wha… What?” Zayn questions, brushing the back of his neck with his hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“That human,” Louis repeats. “Prince Nail or whatever. He has you sprung.” Zayn feels his cheeks turn red and tries his best to cover them up.

“It’s… It’s Prince Niall,” he mutters.

Louis won’t stop laughing, it’s so annoying. “Gosh Zayn, you don’t even know the guy, probably will never know the guy, and you’re already head over heels for him. Tsk, tsk.”

“I’m not head over heels!” Zayn insists. “I just think he’s got some very good features. That’s all.” Louis keeps snickering, but Zayn tries to tune him out, continuing to watch Prince Niall as he swims.

He’s nowhere near as fast as the lifeboats, but he manages to keep swimming anyway… for a little bit. The current eventually proves to be too much for him though and he’s going down, down…

“NO!” Zayn screams. He quickly turns to Louis and Waliyha. “Prince Niall is going to drown. I need to save him. Louis, watch Waliyha.”

He doesn’t wait for a response though, as he quickly dives down and follows Prince Niall’s trail, not stopping for a second.

He finds him and carefully picks him up, hoping he’s not too late. As Zayn rises to the surface again, he looks around for shore. At first all he sees is endless sea and darkness, but finally his eyes land on what looks like sand and grass.

He rushes towards it, silently hoping Louis and Waliyha are okay. As he goes, he finds himself admiring Prince Niall’s arms. He tries to tell himself it’s not the time, but he can’t help it. He starts wondering what Prince Niall would feel like, hugging him, cuddling him…

Finally they reach the shore. Zayn sets Niall down on the sand and prays that this is where the other humans are heading. He wants to turn back now, but he can’t. Not until Niall opens his eyes.

A few moments later, Zayn’s wish is granted. He nearly gasps when Niall’s eyes pop open. They’re so blue, as bright as the daylight sky. He doesn’t want to stop staring at them, but he knows he has to. He can’t leave Louis and especially Waliyha alone forever, and if Niall is awake long enough to realize what Zayn is, it could start a whole mermaids vs. humans war or something.

With a heavy heart, he turns away and starts swimming fast. Niall will be okay. Zayn is sure of it. No kingdom can thrive without its prince.

***

Zayn’s freaking out. He’s gone back to the place he thought he remembered the ship crash at, but Louis and Waliyha are missing.

He doesn’t want anyone to hear him, but his sister and best friend might be in danger. All precautions about being quiet have gone out the door.

“Louis!” He screams. “Waliyha!” He repeats their names again. “Louis! Waliyha! Where are you two?! This is not the time to be messing around!”

Finally, after a few more screams, Waliyha comes towards him.

“Zayn, will you be quiet?!” She whisper-yells. “Our family’s probably gonna be awake any minute!”

“Waliyha!” He hugs her tightly. “I was so worried.”

“We were too,” she tells him, smirking. “Louis and I almost thought you were gonna go off and get hitched to that guy without telling us.” She giggles and takes his hand, leading him to where Louis is.

As soon as they reach him, Zayn studies Louis’ face for a minute. He looks speechless, hypnotized. By what? Zayn’s not sure.

“Umm, Louis?” He asks, swimming in front of him. “Are you okay?” Louis mutters something, but Zayn isn’t sure what, so he tries to get a little bit closer.

“I’m in love!” Louis declares loudly.

Zayn raises an eyebrow. “With who? It better not be my sister, because that’s taking things a little too-”

“No, Zayn!” Louis cuts him off, obviously disgusted at him for even thinking that. _Thank goodness._ “I’m in love with Liam.”

Before Zayn can ask who Liam is, Louis answers the question anyway. “After you left me and Waliyha, another human who was on the burning ship with brunette hair, named Liam, started trying to swim as well.”

“But Niall told Captain that there was enough room on the lifeboats for two more people.” Zayn points out, remembering.

“Yeah,” Louis agrees. “That’s what I was thinking too. Evidently though, Liam thought it was more important to make sure his dog was safe, so he put the dog on the lifeboat with Captain and then started swimming.”

“But if that’s true, why didn’t I see you when I was dropping Niall off on the shore?”

Louis shrugs. “I guess we just went towards two different shores. I think it’ll be okay though. They’re both safe now either way.”

 _Wow_ , Zayn thinks. After all that effort to save Niall, he didn’t even think to wonder about the other two humans still on that ship. Things probably would’ve been a heck of a lot easier if the two of them had both taken Liam and Niall in one direction together.

After thinking about it for a few moments though, Zayn giggles. “Wait a minute Louis. So you’re in love with this Liam person hmm?”

“I see what you’re doing Zayn,” Louis grumbles. “Don’t start okay?”

“Hey I’m just saying. What happened to the whole ‘you’re probably never gonna know the guy’ thing?”

“Hush. Me and Liam are different!” Louis protests, which just makes Zayn crack up even more.

“And you called _me_ sprung.” Zayn shakes his head. “Tsk, tsk.”

Louis glares and looks like he’s about to fight back some more, but before he can, Waliyha interrupts them.

“Umm Zayn,” she says. “May I remind you that the two of us are supposed to be asleep? And we’re supposed to wake up for singing practice in just a few hours. We gotta go.”

“Yeah, fine, fine,” Zayn answers half-heartedly. “Same time tomorrow in the hideaway?”

Louis shrugs. “Sure, why not? See you tomorrow, Zayn.”

“See you tomorrow,” Zayn echoes, then adds at the last second, “Sprung boy.” He runs away before Louis can aim a rock at him.

***

Zayn has been thinking. And thinking. He’s been thinking so hard he thinks he’s about to explode.

When Winston had first popped up in his room that night, he had thought the dude was ridiculous. Who stalks a kid, shows up in his room, and then offers “magic” as some kind of reward for not telling his dad there’s a creep in the castle?

However, since he and Louis saved their Princes a few nights ago (or at least Zayn saved a Prince, though Louis sure acts like Liam is a Prince), Zayn just can’t get Winston’s offer out of his head.

He decides he’s going to bring it up tonight with Louis and Waliyha. So a few hours after his parents tell him goodnight and congratulate him on getting through another few days of not going out, he and Waliyha sneak out and go to meet Louis at the hideaway as usual.

“Oh hey guys,” Louis greets, messing around with some of the stuff around the area. “How’s it going?”

“Louis, what are you doing?” Waliyha asks.

“I’m making a sculpture of Liam,” he replies like it’s obvious, as he sticks two forks to the top of a big rock. She laughs at him, Zayn joining in a little bit too. It looks nothing at all like a face, but at least Louis is trying…

“What? Zayn managed to find that self-portrait of _his_ Prince after it sank, so why can’t I make a portrait of my Prince?”

Waliyha swims closer and giggles some more. “I don’t think Liam would appreciate you giving him devil horns.”

“Those are his ears!” Louis objects. “Zayn, tell her!”

“Yeah, Waliyha, be nice.” Zayn swims next to her. “Clearly it’s a very nice sculpture of a seahorse.” The two of them crack up again.

“Oh ha ha ha.” Louis glares at them. “Sorry we’re not all as talented as the critically acclaimed Zayn!” He sticks his tongue out and continues working on it.

Zayn doesn’t actually think the sculpture is that bad. Besides, as he always tells Louis, all art is good as long as you feel something in it. He just also really enjoys teasing Louis.

After the giggles wind down, he clears his throat. “So uh, speaking of Liam, I’ve been thinking.”

“You can’t have him, he’s mine!” Louis immediately defends, throwing himself on top of the sculpture and losing some parts of it in the process.

“Calm down bro,” Zayn tells him. “I’m not trying to steal your man.” He takes out the card that Winston gave him that night. “I wanted to talk to you guys about this.”

Louis studies the card for a few minutes, but looks just as confused when he’s finished as he was when he started. “What is this? Who is this supposed to be?”

“That’s Winston,” Zayn answers. “He showed up in my room one night-”

“He showed up in your room?!” Waliyha interrupts. “Did you tell dad?”

“No, but that’s not the point-”

“Someone showed up in your room and you didn’t tell dad and that’s not the point? What _is_ the point then?”

“Can you just shut up and listen for a moment?!” Zayn demands. She looks like she’s going to try to resist some more at first, but obliges, keeping an angry look at him the whole time.

“The point is, he said he could do magic. He offered to do some for me, to turn me into a human. Now I didn’t think much of it at first, but-”

“What the heck?!” Waliyha nearly yells. Zayn tries to communicate the words ‘be quiet’ through his face, but she’s not stopping now. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna trust this guy Zayn.”

“I wasn’t!” Zayn defends himself. “At first anyway. But the more I’ve been thinking about it, I wonder how he could’ve shown up in my room that night if it _weren’t_ magic. My windows were sealed and locked at the time, and nobody opened my door. It’s like he just… appeared there.”

He clears his throat, then continues. “I think I want to take him up on his offer. I understand you two may not like it, but I’m not asking you to join me or anything. Unless you want to.” He turns to Louis. “He could turn us both human. He could make it so you could see Liam again.” Louis perks up at the idea, stars in his eyes.

Waliyha looks exasperated. “You’re joking right? You need to be joking. Louis, tell him this is an absolutely terrible idea.”

“It probably is,” Louis agrees. She motions to him, as if telling Zayn ‘see’. “But I’ve always been one to go along with terrible ideas. Where do we find him?”

Her mouth just hangs open, now looking at a loss of what to say. Zayn smiles, glad he doesn’t have to sneak around his best friend now, albeit a bit disappointed his sister doesn’t approve. He didn’t expect her to though if he’s honest.

“I’m not exactly sure,” he admits. “There’s a map on the back of his card, but I can’t really figure it.”

Just then, as if waiting for him to say that (which is a possibility, since Zayn doesn’t completely know how his magic works), Winston pops up.

“I’m so glad you asked.”

Waliyha screams, and Zayn is so thankful this hideout is a good distance from the castle, because otherwise they’d both be in trouble.

Instead of comforting her though, his first instinct is tell her “I told you so.”

“There’s no need to be afraid, Waliyha,” Winston tells her.

“You just appear out of nowhere, already knowing my name when I’ve never even met you, and you’re telling me there’s no need to be afraid?!”

“To be fair,” Louis defends. “You guys kind of are one of the most well-known families in the sea, being royalty and all…”

She stutters. “Still! People don’t just pop up out of nowhere like this! This is stalking!”

Louis shrugs, but doesn’t deny it. Zayn ignores both of them and returns his attention to Winston.

“So Winston,” he starts. “Since you’re here, would you be able to turn us human right now?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do it from this spot,” Winston explains. “All of my magic is back at my lair. But I can lead you all there, since my map is apparently not very clear…”

Zayn blushes, wanting to apologize for his inability to comprehend the map, but Winston starts moving before he can.

When Zayn and Louis start following though, Waliyha stops them. “Wait, are you guys really sure this is a good idea?”

Zayn groans. “We already established we’re not sure it is, but we are sure we’re doing it.” Louis nods in agreement.

“Look,” she tries, sighing. “Even if he is magical or whatever, there’s no way it can just be this simple. He has to have another motive in offering this to you guys.”

“Hey guys!” Winston calls. “If you two want to turn human before the sun comes up and your families send out a search warrant, you better hurry up!”

Zayn grumbles. “Look Waliyha, if you’re so worried, you have enough time right now to go back to your room and go to sleep and pretend you didn’t see anything. But me and Louis are going now.”

And with that, he turns around and starts following Winston, Louis beside him. He hears his sister huffing, but evidently she decides she still wants to follow behind them anyway.

When they get to Winston’s place, it’s a mess. There are dirty dishes everywhere, as well as some weird animals on the ground he’s never seen before in his life.

“Jeez man, do you ever clean up in here?” he questions.

“No, not really.” Winston admits, obviously not very happy Zayn said something about it. He highly doubts he’s the only one who’s thinking it though…

“Points for honesty,” he mutters, trying not to gag as he swims past a days old bowl of kelp stew.

They stop at what is probably the only clean area in the whole place. Winston reaches under a nearby table and grabs something, but quickly hides it so Zayn can’t see what it is.

“Alright guys,” he starts. His voice sounds more… angry? Determined? Zayn isn’t sure which, but he tries not to think too much of it. “So, you two both want to be turned into humans, yes?” Zayn and Louis nod. “Zayn, you want to do it so you can become an artist, as well as for this Prince Niall.”

Zayn’s about to get defensive at the mention of Niall’s name, but he can’t deny that yes, that did help to push him to accept Winston’s offer, so he just nods again.

“And Louis, you want to do it for this Liam boy.” Louis silently hums his confirmation. Zayn’s about to ask what this has to do with anything and if they could please hurry up, but Winston just smirks.

“Well I think those are both very noble reasons to want to become human.” He pauses for a second, then continues. “Of course, no deal can work without me getting something in return, you know.”

“I knew it,” Waliyha whispers so softly that Zayn doesn’t think anyone but him heard it. He still sends her a small glare though.

“What do you want?” Louis asks. “His family is royal, but my family doesn’t really have much so I don’t know what I can give you…”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Winston assures. “But in order for you to become a human and be with Liam or whatever, you must not do any football while you are on land.”

All three of them physically recoil in shock. Louis? Not doing any football? But this is what he’s always wanted; to have feet so he can bounce that ball and kick it into what the humans call ‘baskets’ and all that stuff.

“Not do football…?” Louis repeats sadly. “But that’s what I’ve always wanted to do…”

“I thought you wanted to be human for Liam though,” Winston tells him in a voice that gives Zayn chills. Something isn’t right here… “Isn’t he worth everything? Even giving up your dream?”

Louis just stands there for a moment, breathing soft but heavy. “Listen Louis,” Zayn whispers in his ear. “You don’t have to do this. You can just go back-”

“No!” Louis responds all at once. “I’m doing it! Liam is worth it.”

With a creepy grin, Winston pulls out a contract for Louis to sign. While he’s signing, Winston turns to Zayn. “Now Zayn, as for your payment.”

Zayn prepares for whatever it is. He still probably has just enough time to sneak back into his house and look through his family’s rare jewels and other valuable possessions. Or perhaps Winston wants a reserved seat at the next castle party. Whatever it is, he’s ready for it.

“I want your voice.”

Okay, that’s not at all what he was expecting. “My voice?” He asks, making sure he heard that correctly. “How am I supposed to communicate with people without my voice though?”

“Isn’t art its own language?” Winston challenges. “With talent like yours, I doubt you’ll need to speak very much.”

It isn’t really his speaking that Zayn is worried about not being able to do anymore. One summer he remembers sneaking out every night and, with Scuttle’s help, he learned what the humans call ‘sign language’ from this book a passenger had left on a ship.

He’s more worried about the fact he won’t be able to sing anymore, won’t be able to learn human songs and sing along to them with other humans or anything like that. He guesses it makes enough sense to trade one passion for the other though…

“Come on Zayn.” Winston yawns. “I haven’t got all night you know.”

“Alright, alright,” Zayn tells him. “Chill out. I’ll do it.”

With another leering smile, he hands him a contract to sign, which Zayn does as quickly as he can. Don’t want to keep Winston waiting when he so obviously has other more important things to do…

Winston laughs, taking both contracts away. He zaps Louis, but he doesn’t turn human yet, or change at all for that matter. Zayn guesses it's probably what will take away his ability to play football.

“Alright Zayn, now sing to me.”

Zayn obliges, singing “Flower” the way he did at his dad’s birthday. It isn’t as well rehearsed this time, but Winston seems satisfied anyway. It’s creepy to watch as Zayn’s own voice floats away from him, but he tries not to think about it too hard.

“Yessss,” Winston says, locking Zayn’s voice away in a box. Zayn recognizes it as the thing he had gotten out from under the table earlier. The way he says it is really freaking him out.

“Uh, can we turn human now?” Louis demands. “I kind of want to get out of here before our families go searching for us…”

“Oh right, of course.” Winston tears his eyes away from the box Zayn’s voice is locked in, putting it away. “Oh and by the way, you two have five days to get Prince Niall and Liam to show they care for you deeply. If you do, you will get back the things I took from you. If you don’t, however, you will turn back into mermen and belong to me.”

Before they can really react, he turns them both into humans and they rise to the shore. Zayn tries to scream curses at the jerk, but he can’t. Luckily, Louis takes care of it for him.

“What the heck?!” He yells in the direction of the water. “I did not sign up for this! I demand you remove my signature from that contract!” Zayn signs ‘me too’ even though the jerk can’t see it.

“Sorry, you two already signed and the contract is unbreakable!” Winston tells them, rising to the top of the water but keeping his distance. Good idea, otherwise Zayn and Louis would both have taken him down, humans or not. “You two had better keep it down too, humans don’t really enjoy being woken up by naked men screaming you know.”

Louis is about to object some more but Zayn holds him back. “I can’t believe this! Waliyha was right all along!” Zayn nods, sighing and sitting down on the sand. The sand is not very kind to his new human parts though, so he quickly stands back up.

“I guess we just have to make the best of it though…” Zayn nods again, just listening as Louis lets it all out because unfortunately that’s all he can do now. “Let’s try to find some things to put on, since humans are weirdly afraid of their own anatomy.”

The two of them start walking around and looking for things to cover up their vitals. They soon find two pairs of discarded shorts. Even though they smell absolutely terrible and are a bit of a squeeze to get into, it’s better than nothing.

“So… What do we do now?” Louis asks. Zayn shrugs and tries to do the sign for ‘sleep’, but Louis doesn’t get it. Zayn sighs. This is not going to be as easy as he thought…

He decides to do a demonstration instead, lying down on the beach and closing his eyes. The sand doesn’t feel as bad now that he has shorts on.

“Oh you think we should sleep?” Louis responds after Zayn sits up. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

Suddenly, the two of them hear a voice coming from a little bit down the sea. “Zayn? Louis?” It’s Waliyha, sounding absolutely terrified. “Are you two… alive out here? Cause I heard what Winston said and I’m really freaking out right now…”

Louis and Zayn head down towards her. Her back is facing them as she looks around. “Hi Waliyha, we’re alive,” Louis assures her. “We’re kind of freaked out too, not gonna lie, but it’s going to be-”

She turns to face them, sees their human bodies, and screams.

“Waliyha, calm down, it’s okay.”

She’s not listening though, as she keeps making freaked out noises and rushes back underwater. “I have to tell someone!” is the last thing they hear from her as she swims away.

“No Waliyha, don’t tell anyone please. It’ll only make things worse!” He sighs, because they both know it’s too late.

“Well…” he awkwardly turns back to Zayn. “If we’re doomed anyway, I guess we might as well do that whole, you know, sleeping thing you were motioning about…” Zayn notices how he says ‘motioning about’ instead of ‘talking about’, and despite the terrible situation the two of them have now found themselves in, he smiles. If they really are doomed, at least they’re doomed together.

The two of them fall asleep on the sand, cuddling with each other because the space between the shore and the water is a bit small. Or maybe it’s just because they enjoy each other’s comfort. It’s probably the second one, Zayn thinks as he slips into unconsciousness and dreams of making full-scale paintings with Prince Niall.


	3. The Surface

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just for the record: I myself don't know sign language, and I'm aware that a lot of the things Zayn signs in here probably don't have a word-for-word translation in sign language, but it would have taken too long if I looked up every single thing he signs on Google or something, so. Please don't get angry at me for that. Hahaha.

Zayn and Louis sleep long into the afternoon without even realizing it, and when they wake up it’s bright as heck. Now Zayn knows he’s a deep sleeper and all, but come on. How did he not wake up sooner to the sun that’s now burning a hole in his eyes?

He decides to cover his eyes with his hands and slowly uncover them to see if that helps. It doesn’t really fix anything, but he’s awake now in any event so he might as well get used to it.

Right as he’s about to turn around to wake Louis up by tickling him, he spots someone in front of him.

“Hi,” the person says.

He gasps and screams, falling over with shock. He tries to grab Louis and run, but before he can, the person stops him.

“Woah, woah, woah, I’m sorry I scared you.” It’s Prince Niall. Zayn blushes. “I just saw you and I don’t know, you look familiar, but I’m not sure why.” Zayn shrugs, wishing he could tell him everything.

After thinking for a minute, he notices Louis. “Is that your friend?” Zayn nods. Niall looks more and more concerned by the minute. “Are you two okay?”

‘Not really,’ Zayn signs. ‘Lost.’ Technically they’re not actually lost, they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be… But mentally and emotionally Zayn definitely feels lost, so he reasons that it’s not a total lie…

“Huh?” Niall asks. “What are you doing?” Zayn grumbles. Does anyone on this surface actually know sign language or was that book just fake?

He starts tickling Louis awake. It takes a few times but it works. “Zayn, what the f--- man?” He demands, glaring at him. Zayn just points at Niall, hoping he’ll understand now. He doesn’t. “Oh so Prince Niall is here. Big woop. Let me go back to sleep.”

“Do we… know each other?” Niall questions, raising an eyebrow. Zayn is mentally freaking out, but Louis just laughs.

“Dude, you’re a prince. I think everyone knows who you are, yeah?”

“I guess…” He responds, as if he straight up forgot he was a prince for a moment there. For some reason, Zayn finds that adorable. Niall shakes it off and clears his throat. “Are you two lost?”

Zayn almost wants to laugh because that’s exactly what he was trying to say. He nods, but Niall’s focus is on Louis.

“Uh…” Louis looks at Zayn, who keeps nodding. “Yeah, we are actually. It’s complicated, but we kind of washed up from a shipwreck and have no idea where to go or what to do now. You wouldn’t happen to know where we could stay would you?”

The two boys make pouty faces, but Niall doesn’t really need much convincing. He looks at them with sad eyes himself, believing every word Louis says. “Of course, you can stay with me. If you want to that is.”

Zayn and Louis smile at each other, then nod and say/sign “Thank you”.

***

The first day at Prince Niall and company’s house goes amazingly. Niall introduces Zayn and Louis to his grandfather Harry (nickname Grimsby), among many other people whose names Zayn can’t really remember.

It turns out somebody in this surface world actually does speak sign language, and Zayn finds a translator named Lauren. Not only that, but Lauren asks him if he wants to be taught more sign language, as well as other ways of communication.

“Since you can hear me,” Lauren explains. “It should be pretty easy to teach you more, if you want to learn. I just ask because it seems you only really know the basics. Would you say that’s correct?” Zayn nods. “And you don’t need to tell me what happened, or have your friend tell me what happened, but I can tell you’re relatively new to not speaking.”

He raises an eyebrow because how does she know that? She just shrugs though. “When you’ve been translating as long as I have, you pick up on some things. _Would_ you like to learn some more though?” He nods quickly; he loves the fact that people on here are so welcoming. And his parents always said the surface was something to be afraid of. Well, he begs to differ.

The cherry on top of it all? It turns out Liam lives here too. Right now, Louis is dragging Zayn away from Lauren’s lesson because “this is more important!”

As he’s being dragged away, she looks at him, concerned and confused. ‘Everything alright?’

‘Yeah,’ he assures her. ‘Sorry.’ He isn’t sure how to sign ‘I’ll talk to you later’ yet, but he hopes she gets the message…

If Louis was planning to make a good first impression, he failed. Zayn tries to hold back his laughter as Liam turns around just in time to see Louis finish up dragging him and forcing him to stand in this spot.

Louis starts blushing up a storm as Liam gives him the biggest judging-you face Zayn has ever seen.

“Who are you and what the heck are you doing to this person?” he questions.

Louis fumbles trying to think of an excuse. “Umm… Roleplaying?” Zayn bites down so hard on his lip he’s afraid it’s going to bleed. Louis is terrible at this.

“Roleplaying,” Liam repeats, unconvinced.

“Uh, yeah, totally.” Louis clears his throat. “I was pretending to mug Zayn, and he was supposed to fight back. We’re practicing self-defense. A very important skill, you know.”

Zayn can’t hold it back anymore. He starts laughing hard. He’s blowing Louis’ cover he knows, but it wasn’t really working that well anyway, based on Liam’s expression. Poor guy.

“Hey, Zayn! Laughing won’t stop the muggers from getting all your money!” Louis instructs, then turns back to Liam. “I’ve been trying to teach him this for days. He just can’t get it right. Sad really.”

Liam just stares at them, before looking at his wrist (which doesn’t even have a watch on it). “Uh right, well, I’m just gonna go…” Zayn can’t stop laughing. For such a mischievous person, Louis really is helpless around cute boys.

All of a sudden though, Louis’ face turns determined. “Wait!” He goes after Liam, not stopping until he’s by his side. “Okay the truth is… I’ve really been wanting to meet you because I think you’re… you know… Well, I mean you look like a cool dude who I’d like to hang out and get to know and I’m sorry I freaked you out and I’ll just go back over there…”

He’s blushing redder than the curtains again, but Liam stops him. “Wait.” He smiles. “You seem like a cool person too, and I’d like to get to know you as well. You wanna come to my game tonight? It’s gonna be right outside in the field there.” He points.

“Uh… Sure! Yeah, definitely.” Louis nods excitedly. “Can Zayn come with me?” He motions over to Zayn, and Zayn can just make out the fact that Louis’ fingers are trembling up a storm right now. Hopefully Liam doesn’t notice…

“Sure!” Liam agrees. “Just… Don’t drag him around. That’s not very nice.”

Louis giggles. “Of course not. See you later.” The two of them wave to each other as Liam walks away, probably to go practice or something.

As soon as he’s out of earshot, Louis jumps up and down and dances all around the room. “He invited me to his game! I’m going to see him again tonight! Romance is in the air, Zayn. It’s in the air.”

Zayn giggles. He really is happy for his best friend. He does hope he doesn’t have to third-wheel on all their outings after this though. Watching Louis make a fool of himself in front of a cute boy is only funny for so long.

After Louis winds down a little bit, the two of them split from each other for the time being. Zayn goes back to Lauren for a little bit longer, wanting to finish up today’s lesson before it’s time for Liam’s game. Louis goes back to his room to find something nice to dress in.

***

That night, Louis, Zayn, and Lauren all go to Liam’s game together. When they get there, it turns out Niall is there too. Louis not-so-subtly leads them over there and asks him if they can sit there.

“Of course!” Niall responds, moving over to give the three of them room. Louis smirks at Zayn after sitting down, and Zayn would slap him if there weren’t people here. It’s okay though, because Zayn 100% intends to get payback after the game’s over.

“Niall,” Louis starts. “I didn’t know you were a football fan.”

Lauren snorts. “Please, this kid? He lives on all sports. You should hear some of him and Liam’s conversations. They’re the biggest sports fans I’ve ever met.” She giggles.

“He sounds like a keeper,” Louis whispers in Zayn’s ear. “I approve.” Zayn rolls his eyes and elbows Louis in the ribs, smirking after Louis sends him a glare.

“What about you two?” Niall asks. “Are you big on football?”

Now it’s Zayn’s turn to snort. As soon as Louis gets started on football, there will be no stopping him.

“Definitely,” Louis tells him, eyes lighting up in that way that they only do in response to finding footballs on ships. “Ever since I first found out about football, I fell in love with it. I’ve never actually been able to see a game though, not until now.”

“Why n-?” Niall’s question is cut off by the sound that, Zayn gathers, signals the start of the game. As if the question was never on his tongue in the first place, Niall immediately turns his attention to the game in front of him, screaming his head off already. Louis soon follows suite.

Zayn tries to pay attention, clapping whenever Liam’s team scores a goal, but he finds himself paying more attention to Niall’s beautiful smile than the actual game…

***

Liam’s team wins, 4 – 1. After the game is over, the four of them go to Liam’s dressing room to congratulate him.

As soon as they see him, before anyone else can say anything, Louis starts screaming nonsensically about how Liam was so awesome when he did this, and that, and that too, oh and can’t forget that. Finally, after what feels like a million years, he ends it with “…and you just did so good! That was the best game I’ve ever seen!”

“You said it was the only game you’ve ever seen though…” Lauren reminds.

“So?!” Louis objects. “It was still the best!”

Probably feeling absolutely smothered, Liam just giggles and gives Louis a hug. “Thanks. I’m so glad you could come.”

“Yeah, good job,” Lauren agrees, laughing. Zayn taps her shoulder and signs to her. “Oh, Zayn also says good job.” Zayn gives him a thumbs up when he looks in their direction, confirming the statement.

“Hey,” Niall says, getting everyone’s attention. “In honor of your victory, how about all of us have dinner together?” Zayn starts nodding quickly, then has to remind himself he’s not the one being asked…

“I don’t know.” Liam grabs a towel and wipes sweat off his face. Zayn takes a look at Louis’ pants and quickly turns around so no one else can see him holding back laughter. He listens as Liam continues though. “I’m pretty tired and really need a shower.”

“So shower and then join us!” Niall offers. “Come on, I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve dined together.”

Zayn turns back around. Liam looks like he’s not sure, but he’s apparently not able to say no to the pout Niall’s giving him right now. Zayn can’t blame him; if Niall gave him that face, he’d do pretty much anything to make him happy.

“Fine.” Liam grumbles. Everyone else cheers. “Just give me time to get showered and changed.”

“Of course,” Niall assures. “See you in the dining hall in a bit.” Liam waves him off, and the four of them start going back to their rooms to get ready.

When Zayn’s about to go into his room though, Niall stops him. “Wait a minute Zayn. I want to show you something.” Zayn looks in the direction of where Lauren went off to, confused. Should he go get her?

“No, it’s okay.” Niall tells him. “I want to take you somewhere alone, just the two of us. I don’t need to know what you’re saying or anything like that. Is that okay?”

Zayn nods, mentally freaking out. Niall wants to take him somewhere… alone. What does this mean? He tries not to jump to too many conclusions as he follows behind Niall. He’s wishing really hard that this is going to lead to what he thinks it will though; kissing Niall’s lips is all he can think about. He tells himself to calm down and relax his heart beat, but it’s more and more difficult with each step.

“Okay, close your eyes,” Niall tells him a little bit later. Zayn obliges and closes his eyes, heart feeling like it’s about to beat out of his chest at this point. Is Niall going to surprise him with a kiss? A ring? Chills run down his spine as he feels Niall start leading him forward, until finally they stop. A few seconds later, “Open them.”

When Zayn opens his eyes, he gasps. In front of him is a room full of blank canvases, paper, and different artist tools (including those paint brushes he’s dreamed of holding all these years). Niall has taken him to the room of his dreams. He turns back to face him. How did he know this is everything he’s always wanted?

He’s smiling and blushing a little as he says, “Lauren kind of told me that you really want to be an artist, but haven’t had the opportunities to really express yourself yet, so I thought I’d take you here.”

Zayn can’t control his absolute joy at this moment. This is the best thing anyone’s ever done for him. He runs over to Niall and almost makes him fall with how hard he hugs him. He wants to apologize, but Niall just starts giggling and hugs back with almost (but not quite) as much force.

Without thinking, Zayn signs ‘I love you’ to him. A second later, his tummy starts doing flips because he’s afraid of what that looks like. Lauren told him pretty much all humans know the ‘I love you’ sign even if they don’t know any other signs…

Niall’s face falters for a second, but then he just smiles again. “I love you too, bro. Now are we gonna make some paintings or what?”

Mentally sighing with relief, he follows Niall’s lead and the two of them get some colored water – paint, Zayn reminds himself – and blank canvases.

Zayn starts out confused and unsure of what to do. He’s drawn things on rocks with sticks for the past several years, but that didn’t really prepare him for this. He begins watching Niall, paying attention to how he strokes the paint brush against the canvas with grace.

Niall seems to start noticing after a beat or so and he frowns. “Stop focusing so much on how I do it, or on making it ‘perfect’. No artist is perfect. Even the most famous artists had their flaws. But that’s okay, because art of any kind isn’t supposed to be perfect. It’s supposed to be an expression of how you feel. You know?”

Zayn nods slowly, that's exactly what he would tell Louis when they were underwater and Louis worried about not being as good as him. But now Zayn is on land, a place he's not the only artist anymore, and the pressure to be as amazing as Niall and other humans is very much present. Still, he breathes out, and tries to just draw something, anything. Nothing comes to him. Then he turns to Niall again, studying the determination in his face. A burst of inspiration suddenly shoots through him and he starts painting.

It’s hard at first for him to remind himself that you need to put the paint brush in different water before switching colors, and his painting kind of starts out as a mess of colors, but he keeps going anyway.

When he’s finished, he looks back at it. He doesn’t really think it’s the best painting. In fact, he thinks some of his simple drawings on rocks are a million times better than this. The nose is crooked, the eyes are oddly colored because he forgot to put his brush in the water before changing colors, and don’t even get him started on the hair.

He taps Niall’s shoulder. Zayn gives him a frown because it’s not that good, and Niall could probably paint himself better, but he promised he’d show Niall when he was done so.

Niall goes over to the painting and Zayn starts sweating. What if he realizes how terrible it is? What if he regrets ever taking Zayn in the first place and wasting good canvases on this? What if-

“Oh my gosh!” Niall nearly yells. “I love it! You’re so talented! I especially love the mix of colors around the eyes. That’s so cool, man.” He turns back to Zayn, grinning from ear to ear. “Can I put this in my room or something after it dries?”

Zayn smiles, nodding as best he can while his heart is doing jumping jacks. The two boys are about to hug again, but just then someone comes through the door. It’s Niall’s grandfather, Harry.

“Niall,” Harry tells him, expression and tone stern. “I’ve been looking all around for you. It is 10:30. You should be in bed.”

“Chill, Grims,” Niall replies. “Me and Zayno were just having some fun painting. Is it a crime to have fun now?”

“It is when you’re up past your bedtime. Come along now, you need to be up at nine tomorrow morning so we can talk about your future duties as king.”

Niall scoffs. “We talk about it like every day though. Nothing’s new or interesting about it anymore…”

“Well if you would stop being obtuse and pick a spouse already-”

Niall grumbles loudly. “Why do we always go back to this?”

Harry smirks, unamused. “Perhaps we wouldn’t have to always go back to this if you would finally pick one out. There are so many people out there who would make good spouses for you. Prince Joe, Princess Ally, heck, even that nice boy just around the block who-”

“If I go to bed now, will you stop lecturing me?” Niall challenges.

Harry just rolls his eyes. “Fine, for now. But you’re going to have to face up to it sooner or later.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Niall grumbles again, then stands up and turns to Zayn. “Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks again for the awesome painting.” He finally gives him a big hug, then retreats to Harry.

Zayn smiles widely. ‘You’re welcome,’ he signs, though it’s more to himself than to Niall, who’s walking away now.

Harry takes one look at Zayn, who tries to bite back his smile so Harry doesn’t suspect anything. As they’re walking away, Zayn hears Harry mutter “teenagers” under his breath.

***

“Oh yeah!” Louis declares loudly, standing back and admiring his work. “Look at that! You see that? My sandcastle is gonna crush all of you guys’ sandcastles in the contest!”

They’re on the beach. Niall had noticed Zayn was painting a lot of pictures of the ocean lately, so he offered to take him and Lauren down here and make sandcastles. Zayn obliged because he has never been able to make a sandcastle before. Then Louis decided to join them, as tends to happen, and of course Liam followed behind him.

“Uh, Payno,” Niall whispers in Liam’s ear. “You did tell Louis there’s not an actual contest happening right?”

“Oh come on,” Liam whispers back. “Look at how much fun he’s having. Help me keep this lie going.”

Niall laughs. “Fine… After me and Zayn are done with our ‘contest entries’.”

“Of course, gotta make it a fair competition.” Liam winks, going back over to help Louis some more.

Zayn shakes his head as Liam walks away, laughing softly.

“What’s funny?” Lauren asks, obviously really focusing on her sandcastle.

‘Those two are so sprung.’ Zayn sighs. ‘It’s embarrassing.’

“Who two?” Lauren questions. “Where did you learn the word ‘sprung’?” He quickly rushes to cover her mouth. He looks over at Liam and Louis, making sure they didn’t hear anything, then looks back at her.

‘L-o-u-i-s and L-i-a-m.’ He explains. ‘It’s like so obvious.’

“Oh,” she giggles, then finally starts signing along with him. ‘You think so?’

‘Oh I know so.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘I mean look at them. When are they just going to kiss?’

“Hey, what are you two signing about over there?” Niall objects. “I thought we were making sandcastles!” Zayn just sticks his tongue out at him, and is met with a response of the same caliber.

Lauren scooches closer to Niall, after making sure her sandcastle is secure of course. “Zayn was telling me about how Liam and Louis are ‘sprung’, his word not mine.” She giggles.

“Oh yeah?” Niall asks, before shrugging. “Yeah it’s kind of hard to miss to be honest. Every time Liam comes back from being with him, his cheeks looks sunburnt, but it’s actually just him being annoyingly in love with him.” He rolls his eyes. “They’re so cute, it disgusts me.”

Zayn bites his lip. He wishes he could tell Louis about this later, but alas, every time he’s tried to teach Louis something in sign language, his attention soon switches back to Liam…

“Stay here,” Niall whispers suddenly at the two of them. “I’ve got this.” He stands up, taking his phone out of his pocket and looking at it dramatically. In one of his dramatic impressions, he announces, “The judges of the sandcastle contest just texted me and they have declared the winner as… Louis!”

Immediately Louis starts jumping up and down, with Liam clapping for him. “Yes!” Louis cheers. “Yes I win! Suck it Zayn!” Zayn just starts giggling. Louis is something else.

“And the judges have requested that, since Liam helped Louis so much with his sandcastle, they both must share the reward which is…” He motions to Zayn and Lauren, who start doing a drum roll. “…Twin smoothies from the beach store!”

He takes out two coupons that are, sure enough, two ‘free smoothie’ coupons for the beach store, and brings them over to Liam and Louis.

“Awesome!” Louis shouts after he gets his coupon, grabbing Liam’s free hand. “Come on let’s go! I’m parched!”

When Niall comes back over and sits down, Zayn looks at him with a look that’s both confused and impressed. “What?”

“Did you have that planned the whole time?” Lauren translates for Zayn.

“No, not at all. They were just in me pocket is all…” Zayn raises an eyebrow at him, not believing that for a second. Sure enough, after that, Niall starts laughing loudly. “Okay, I might have had it planned ever since Liam told me he was gonna let Louis keep thinking it was a contest.”

Zayn stares at him, extremely impressed. Niall has a secret mischievous side under that ‘good prince’ exterior. He finds that hot to be honest.

Niall gets a beep from his phone. After pulling it out he looks shocked. “Oh no, I gotta go,” he says, turning to Lauren and Zayn. “Sorry to cut things off so early, guys, but Grims is gonna be super mad if I’m late again.”

“We understand,” Lauren assures him, Zayn nodding in agreement. “Go off to do your princely duties! We’ll see you later.”

“Thanks.” Niall quickly waves at them and then runs off. Zayn frowns slightly; he was hoping for a hug before Niall left. Oh well, he has important Prince Things to do after all…

Lauren and Zayn spend a few minutes continuing with their sandcastles, even though they already ‘lost the contest’. Zayn tries to model his sandcastle after the actual castle he lives in underwater. It doesn’t turn out very well because sand is a lot harder to work with than it looks, and it’s _definitely_ a lot harder to work with than things like sticks and rocks, in Zayn’s opinion.

Still, he enjoys making it, and when it’s finally done, he asks Lauren if she would mind taking a picture of it and printing it out for him later.

“Of course!” Lauren responds enthusiastically, getting closer and taking out her phone. Thankfully it loads just in time and she’s able to take two high quality pictures… right before a big wave comes and knocks down both of their sandcastles.

Zayn’s a little sad if he’s honest. He knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but he really worked hard on his little sandcastle. Thank goodness Lauren was able to snap a few pictures before it was ruined. Human technology is so amazing.

“Oh well,” Lauren shrugs. “It’s the fun of making it that’s most important, right?” Zayn grins at that and thinks to himself that Lauren should be an artist too someday, if she isn’t already. She looks at her phone again, clicking on the ‘Clock’ button.

“Well, I think I better head inside too. It’s not that late yet, but I wanna take a short nap before dinner starts.” She pauses, putting the phone back in her pocket. “You wanna head in too?”

‘No,’ he tells her, shaking his head. ‘Staying out here a little longer.’

“Okay…” She looks a little bit unsure on whether or not he should be out here alone. “Just… try not to stay out much longer. The sharks usually start coming out around this time.”

‘Thank you. I’ll be careful.’ The two of them wave to each other and he’s on his own.

He really appreciates having a friend like Lauren. To her, he’s more than just a person to teach or whatever. She actually looks out for him and teaches him a lot about human culture, not ever asking why or how he doesn’t know what something is. How could anyone at home ever think these humans are all terrible?

Home… Zayn sighs, remembering his home and how he just left without warning. His parents and sisters probably freaked out after the first day, and who knows what they must have thought after Waliyha told them everything?

The truth is, he misses it. A lot. Even though he’s happy here with Louis, Liam, Lauren, and Niall by his side, he still misses his home. That’s why he decided to stay out here a bit longer and not follow Lauren’s lead and go inside. He gets closer to the water again, already slightly wet due to the big wave that came out of nowhere and crushed his sandcastle.

He puts his feet in the water. He finds it kind of ironic, in a way; his feet in the water, when the whole deal he made with Winston was giving him feet and taking him away from the water. He decides to continue on a bit further, heeding Lauren’s warning to keep in the populated areas around this time. He doesn’t look at or acknowledge the other people he’s near, he just makes sure he’s not alone.

Zayn decides to go deeper, until finally he can’t see his legs or feet anymore. Not being able to see his feet, it almost feels like he’s back at home again. Almost. He wishes he could see someone from his family right now, talk to them and ask what they’re up to. He sighs again, picturing their faces and voices in his head.

“Zayn.” Waliyha’s voice is so loud in Zayn’s head that for a moment he’s certain she’s actually nearby. But that can’t be true right? She’s probably in singing practice or something right now…

“Zayn!” No, wait, that _is_ Waliyha. He starts looking around for her but doesn’t see her. “Come closer to the left, away from the other people. Don’t worry, I’ve got the shark situation under control. They won’t be coming in our way.”

 _That sounds kind of creepy_ , he thinks to himself. He looks around, making sure none of the other humans heard that, but they’re too busy with their own conversations and lives, so he starts heading to the left. He decides to use his arms to swim that way, wondering what the differences between swimming with feet vs. a tail are.

At first it’s a little difficult because his legs move more than the tail he’s used to, but then he presses his legs together and tries to imagine his feet as fins. He then continues forward, an energy rush almost coming over him.

“You’re almost… almost… Okay, stop.” He listens to her and gets to a stand-still. He hopes they don’t talk very long though, because if a big wave were to come right about now he’d be in trouble. Then again, his sister is there to catch him as well…

She hops up in front of him, making sure she only shows her waist and above. “Hey big brother. How are things?” He shrugs, attempting to make a gesture that conveys ‘so-so’. “Right, you can’t talk… I forgot…”

He raises an eyebrow. It’s amazing to him that she could already forget something so big. “Well I mean it’s not like I exactly see you every day anymore,” she defends, putting her hands up. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t tell anyone in our family. Honestly they’re just as clueless to where I am as where you are right now, probably…”

Zayn’s confused. So she hasn’t told them. But right after she saw him and Louis with feet for the first time, she had been so scared she ran away and shouted “I have to tell somebody!” Did she change her mind at the last minute or something? Also what is this about their parents ‘being just as confused about where she is’?

“I know what you’re probably thinking.” She says, looking a little guilty as she admits, “After I ran away from you guys screaming, I didn’t go home. I feel bad about it, and I miss our parents and sisters a lot, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do it, Zayn. I knew they’d be confused about where you were and sending out search parties and everything, and I didn’t want to accidentally turn you in…”

She frowns and he takes her hand, rubbing gentle circles around it so she knows he understands and appreciates her. She gives him a slightly-sad smile, which he returns. Soon after though, her face falls again, eyes to the ocean below them.

“I’ve been sneaking around,” she admits, squeezing his hand just the tiniest bit. “I’ve been hiding in my friend Bonnie’s room, hideaways, etc. Her parents don’t approve, but they still haven’t told anybody. Bonnie understands, you know.” She makes eye contact with him again as she says it. “She understands why you and Louis had to become human, I mean. She says if she ever felt that passionate about somebody, she’d do the same thing. I thought it was ridiculous at first, but after talking to her, I understand too now and I really hope you two are able to get what you need while you’re up here.”

She wipes a tear off her cheek, even though it’s counterproductive because she gets water all over her face. “Anyway, I just came here to say I miss you.”

Even if Zayn could speak right now, he wouldn’t know what to say. He loves his sister so much and feels bad that he and Louis made her feel like she had to hide out instead of being with their family. He lets her hand go and then brings her into a big hug. He’s missed this. Part of him almost thought he’d never get to hug any of his sisters again.

They stay there for a little bit longer, Waliyha telling him some of the things she and Bonnie have been doing together to keep busy. One day she apparently told Bonnie that she was sad because she missed singing, so Bonnie brought her musical clam friend in to visit, named Wesley, and they all sang some classics together for a few hours. Zayn thinks it’s great that she has such a good friend in this time.

When the sun really starts going down, Zayn motions to the castle to indicate that he has to go now. Waliyha gets the gist, and they wave goodbye. That night Zayn goes to bed with a smile. He’s so thankful he got to see his sister today; it’s nice to know there’s someone out there who’s thinking of him and misses him.

***

The next day, Zayn gets up and goes downstairs, ready for another day of awesomeness with Niall, Lauren, Liam, and Louis. When he enters the dining room though, the place he usually sits at between Niall and Lauren is already taken by someone he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t do anything, because he’s not going to make someone he doesn’t know move, and he’s definitely not going to make Liam move away from his best friend either. So, feeling slightly sad but not wanting to make a scene, he finds his way to the seat on Lauren’s other side.

She taps his shoulder to get his attention. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, just tired.’ It doesn’t look like she believes that very much, but she doesn’t push any harder.

Harry appears, looking oddly happy as he announces “Good morning all. We are happy to welcome the – very eligible – Ben to our palace today. He’s new and will be staying with us for the next few days.”

“Welcome Ben!” Most of the people at the table call. Niall says a half-hearted, “Hi Ben.”

Zayn can’t place it, but something about this Ben guy looks/feels familiar. He also doesn’t like how close Ben is moving towards Niall…

“Thank you for that amazing introduction, Harry,” Ben says, bowing. _How over the top,_ Zayn thinks, rolling his eyes. _Bowing when he doesn’t have to. Talk about try-hard…_ “I look forward to spending this time with you and all these beautiful acquaintances.” He looks around, spending a little extra time staring at Niall. Zayn sinks down in his seat. The actual breakfast hasn’t even started yet and he already feels full to the point of throwing up…

The breakfast dish today is called samosas, which Zayn loves. He loves it so much he has Lauren ask for seconds and then thirds for him. Still, despite his focus on his food, he can’t stop looking at how Ben and Niall are interacting throughout the meal.

He also notices that Ben is making some faces at Zayn as well, almost as if he knows exactly what Zayn is thinking and is trying to show off the fact that he’s sitting next to Niall now and gets to put his hand around Niall’s shoulders all romantic-like.

“So Niall,” Ben says at one point. “Mr. Styles here tells me you’re on the market.”

“Oh? Am I a piece of food now?”

Zayn starts feeling sick again. He turns to Lauren. ‘Will you excuse me? I don’t feel too good.’

‘Of course,’ Lauren responds, being kind enough to sign so no attention is drawn to him. ‘Do you still want us to have a session today?’

Zayn thinks for a moment, then decides he’d like to at least have someone to communicate with now that Niall is apparently occupied by someone else. ‘Yes. See you later.’

‘See you later.’

With that, he goes up to his room and sets the alarm clock that Louis gave him (for what reason, he still doesn’t know) so he’ll be awake when it’s time for session. He takes a nap and has a nightmare where Ben turns into a monster and captures Niall. He wakes up almost screaming when it gets to the part where he has to watch Niall being thrown into a black hole. Maybe sleeping wasn’t the best answer…

***

At session that day, Zayn isn’t as attentive as he usually is, and it shows. He ends up having to ask for clarification on a term three times, and while Lauren is happy to give it, it’s obvious she notices something’s wrong.

“Zayn, is there something you want to talk about?” Lauren asks.

‘Are you my therapist or my teacher?’ He questions rudely. She doesn’t respond to that, but he can see in her eyes that she’s hurt by his words. He sighs. ‘I’m sorry. Just a little sad.’

“Well… _Do_ you want to talk about it?” She repeats. There’s a hint of sadness still lurking in her eyes, but it’s fading at least… “I’m here to listen.”

Zayn exhales. He really doesn’t want to bother her with this stuff, but maybe telling someone would be good for him.

He takes a deep breath. ‘Niall and Ben.’

“What about them?” She raises an eyebrow.

‘Ben likes Niall’ is the best way he can think to sum it up right now.

“Oh yeah? Can’t blame him to be honest.” She laughs. “Niall is quite a charmer.”

‘ _I_ like Niall too,’ he adds.

“Oh, oh, I get it.” She walks over and sits down beside him, wrapping an arm over his shoulder. “Listen, Ben may be interested in Niall, but Niall is 100% not interested in him. This morning, after you left, Ben asked him if he’d be interested in going on a date and he said ‘not particularly’.”

Zayn laughs at the mental image. He hopes that’s true. If it is, that still doesn’t mean Niall feels anything for Zayn either, but it still makes him feel a little bit better. He gives Lauren a hug. ‘Thank you.’

“You’re welcome,” she tells him with a smile. “Do you want to call it a day? Because I understand if you do.”

He shakes his head. ‘No, let’s continue.’

“Okay.” She gets back up and they continue where they left off at.

***

Zayn and Niall are on the beach together, once again making sandcastles. Liam and Louis are off somewhere together, too busy for another ‘contest’. Zayn and Niall had invited Lauren to come along, but she told them she’s been spending so much time with them and she needs to catch up on her work.

So here they are, just the two of them together making sandcastles. Zayn’s sweating right now for more reasons than just the sun, but he tries to ignore it as he focuses his energy on making another model of his home. When he’s done he smiles at his creation, tapping Niall to get his attention.

“Woah,” Niall says, getting a closer look. “Am I allowed to take a picture of it?” Zayn nods quickly. That’s what he was hoping to hear. Niall doesn’t stop admiring it after taking three pictures of it though.

He keeps staring at it, until he finally turns back to Zayn. “You’re so talented man. It kills me.”

‘Thank you,’ Zayn signs, before he remembers Niall can’t understand. Hopefully he somehow gets the message anyway…

‘You’re welcome.’ Zayn’s jaw drops. Niall just… signed. He signed well, like he’s been practicing or something…

He taps him again, expression still confused and amazed. ‘What? How did you learn that sign?’ he asks, trying to test out how much Niall understands.

“Sorry, I’m not good enough yet to continue this.” He laughs. “But yes, I’ve been practicing a bit with Lauren too. I feel bad about not being able to understand you without a translator, so I decided to try to learn some. I was waiting for the right moment to surprise you.”

 _Wow, no wonder Lauren is exhausted_ , Zayn thinks. For the next few minutes he repeats over and over again in his head: Niall learned sign language to understand him. Niall learned sign language for _him_. He falls down and makes a sand angel. He loves this boy so much.

His feelings of being overwhelmed only get more intense when he sees Harry approaching from behind him. He wants to tell Niall, but suddenly he can’t move his legs anymore, so he just lays there and watches as Harry gets closer and closer.

“Niall!” he calls. “There you are!”

Niall rolls his eyes. “Great,” he mutters. “What does he want now?”

Harry walks faster until finally he reaches the two of them. Niall’s expression stays annoyed. “What are you doing down here, Grimsby? What do you want?”

“What am I doing down here?” Harry repeats, making an offended noise. “What are _you_ doing down here? Our honored guest, Ben, is up there waiting for you and you’re down here making _sandcastles_?”

“Yeah, because everything about these immobile sandcastles is ten times more interesting than him.” He says it like it’s an undeniable fact, and Zayn giggles as he finally sits up.

“Why are you so rude to him?” Harry questions. “You haven’t even taken a moment to get to know him or anything.”

“Okay.” Niall stands up. “Now it’s my turn to ask questions. Why is it so important to you that I get to know him? Hm? If you like him so much, how about _you_ get to know him?”

“Because I already had a spouse!” He pauses for a moment, looking like he’s saying a silent prayer. “You haven’t. And he’s the perfect one. He’s obviously interested in you.”

“Well I’m not interested in him!” If looks could kill, Harry would be dead and gone right now. Zayn sincerely hopes he doesn’t do anything to ever deserve Niall looking at him like that… “And you wanna know why? It’s because I’m a... I’m a…”

He stops, like he doesn’t actually want to say it. Suddenly he turns to Zayn, whose heart starts beating faster than Liam running on the football court. He keeps walking towards him, and Zayn finds it harder and harder to breathe by the second.

“I’m a guy who is dating Zayn,” Niall finishes, and before Zayn can do anything they’re lip-to-lip. It’s not a very long kiss, and they don’t go past the mouth, but Zayn still embraces every second of it. “And you can tell Ben that too.”

Harry’s expression is about how Zayn feels – shocked, not sure where that came from, wondering how long Niall’s been feeling this way. “Um… Okay. I will tell him that…”

Zayn would laugh if he didn’t feel so shocked right now. After all Harry’s time of demanding Niall get engaged to someone and do it soon, here Niall is showing him that he’s interested in someone, and Harry can’t handle the fact that it’s Zayn instead of Ben.

Harry walks away, slowly making his way back to the palace. Zayn watches him, because it’s something else to focus on as he keeps trying to digest what just happened. Niall kissed him. _Niall_ kissed _him_. What does this mean? Does this mean Niall likes him? That must be it, right?

Zayn tries to say something, anything. But he’s speechless for a whole other reason right now, and can’t think of anything to say that would be good enough to describe his feelings.

Things are made worse by the fact that Niall isn’t looking at him. He just kissed him, and he’s not looking at him. Did he do something wrong? Is he not a good enough kisser or something?

Several aching minutes pass by before, finally, Niall sighs and turns to face him again. “Come on, let’s go somewhere a little less public than the beach. I need to talk to you.” Zayn just nods and lets Niall lead him by his hand. They end up going behind the palace’s back porch and sitting on a bench-swing together.

“Listen, I’m really sorry for doing that.” Niall starts. “It was silly of me to do that, especially without asking permission first.”

Zayn tries to speak. “No, I liked it, I wanted it.” He tries, but nothing comes out. Why isn’t anything coming out? Wasn’t Winston’s spell supposed to be broken when they kissed each other?

He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he doesn’t want Niall to think he didn’t like it, so he signs and hopes Niall gets the message. ‘I liked it. I like you.’

Niall looks sadder instead of happier when he sees that though. “Oh no. No, no, no. I’m such a terrible human being.” He puts his head in his lap, sobbing silently and confusing Zayn more and more by the second.

He looks Zayn in the eyes, holding his gaze as best he can with the tears falling down and probably blurring his vision. “Zayn, the truth is… I’m aromantic. I’m not romantically attracted to anybody. I was trying to get my grandfather to finally stop talking about how ‘perfect’ Ben is, and I accidentally messed with your feelings in the process. I’m so sorry.”

Zayn just stares at him, whole body going numb. Niall doesn’t like him. Niall only kissed him to get Harry off his back. He didn’t really mean it, even though Zayn felt so much in that kiss. It was everything to him, but it was nothing to Niall.

Still, Zayn doesn’t want Niall to be made to feel guilty about who he is or isn’t attracted to, so he just signs, ‘I understand.’

“You do?” Niall asks, as if that response is too good to be true. Zayn just nods. It’s a very slow nod, but it’s still fast enough that Niall can tell what he’s doing. “Good. Because if I had to lose you as a friend, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.”

That sentence alone makes him feel a little better, and he works up an actual smile. The two of them stand up then and walk inside to have lunch. Ben is nowhere to be found. Zayn feels empathetic for him in a way, they both ended up chasing after a guy who doesn’t want to date anybody. At the same time though, Harry’s weird obsession with wanting Ben and Niall to get married kind of turned him off of Ben altogether.

Zayn thinks he’s holding it together. He holds it together well all throughout lunch, even during the parts where Harry whispers in Niall’s ear “are you sure you want to marry _this_ guy when there are so much better people out there?”

He thinks he’s holding it together, that is, until he gets into his room and falls on the bed. All at once, he starts crying hard. He gave up everything; his home, his family, his friends, and all for what? Winston said he had to make Niall prove he cared for him deeply or else he would be doomed to belong to him.

What is he supposed to do now? There’s no changing Niall’s mind, and Zayn isn’t going to try to force him to have a crush on him. But still, he thinks, what did Winston mean when he said “belong to him”? Will he never get to see his sisters, parents, or friends again?

He won’t be here when Liam breaks Louis’ spell and the two of them get married on a football field, or when Waliyha sings her first big solo lead, or when Doniya graduates from her school. He won’t be able to paint or draw or sculpt anything ever again.

He won’t be here for any of that now, and somehow realizing that is even worse than realizing the boy of his dreams doesn’t like him. He decides to take a nap, locking the door after telling Lauren that he’s gonna take the day off. She looks concerned, but thankfully doesn’t prod. He doesn’t think the nap does him any good though, because he just has a nightmare about Winston dancing over his grave and watching as Louis, Liam, Lauren, and Niall all disappear…

When he wakes up, he thinks he sees Winston in front of him. He rubs at his eyes, sure it must be an illusion. But no, there is someone there. Someone named Ben.

 _How the heck did he get in here?_ Zayn thinks, looking behind Ben to make sure the door is still locked. It is.

He gives a confused look, and Ben just smirks. “Upset you couldn’t win over Prince Niall’s heart? Well, I’m kind of upset I couldn’t either to be honest. But, after seeing what happened to you this morning, it looks like I didn’t need to. You ruined yourself on your own.” He laughs maniacally, and Zayn is officially creeped out. Is Ben a stalker or something? Unless…

“That’s right Zayn,” Ben continues. “I am Winston. And I hope you enjoy today and tomorrow while you’re still able to, because after 11:59 PM tomorrow, you will belong to me forever.” More maniacal laughter. Suddenly Ben - er, Winston - floats up to the walls and then disappears physically. The last thing Zayn hears from him is “Have a good last two days, Zayn. You’re gonna need them.”

Zayn pinches himself to make sure those last few minutes were real. They were. He bites his lip. If he only has two days left to live, he’s going to make sure they’re the best days of his darn life, feet or fins...

***

The rest of the day continues with Zayn going back to Lauren to see if they can do a brief lesson. When he opens the door, his breath hitches as he sees Niall.

“Oh hi Zayn!” he calls happily. “Sorry, did I steal your session time?”

 _He doesn’t love you, he doesn’t love you_ , keeps repeating over and over again in his head. He tries to ignore it, biting his lip and smiling. ‘No. I hadn’t planned to come today, but I changed my mind. Can I join?’

“Uh… I didn’t quite catch all of that,” Niall says, turning to Lauren. “What’s he saying?”

It’s like Lauren wakes up from a trance suddenly, because just then she turns around and realizes it’s not only her and Niall anymore. “Zayn? What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming.”

‘I wasn’t, but I changed my mind,’ he repeats. ‘Can I join you two?’

“Of course you can join us,” she answers. “Come take a seat next to Niall.”

He obliges, and things start out a little awkward; at least, awkward on Zayn’s side. Niall doesn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. That’s good, Zayn doesn’t want him to notice anything out of the ordinary.

Eventually though, his brain (mostly) stops going on overdrive as he focuses on Lauren and what she’s teaching. A lot of it is just review of what he already knows, but that’s okay. He still enjoys learning, and relearning, different signs and their meanings.

“So,” Niall says once the lesson is over. “Liam’s having another football game in a few minutes. Do you two want to come see it?”

‘Sure.’ Zayn agrees, turning to Lauren who says the same.

“Awesome!” Niall claps his hands. “Let’s go!” He starts practically skipping off.

Zayn tries to follow, but Lauren pulls him back. “I already know where the field is.” Zayn raises an eyebrow; what does her already knowing where the field is have to do with anything? Niall still said it started in a few minutes, they should be following behind him…

“What’s going on?” She asks.

‘Nothing,’ he lies, looking anywhere but her eyes right now.

“Zayn, come on. I saw how awkward you were around Niall today during the lesson, and earlier at lunch too. Usually you’re beyond excited to even be meters from him.” She moves his head so he has no choice but to look at her. “What’s wrong? I promise I won’t tell anybody.”

He exhales, not wanting to tell her but not wanting to keep Niall, Liam, and (most likely) Louis waiting forever.

‘Niall kissed me.’ He tells her.

“That’s good right?” She asks, confused.

‘That’s what I thought,’ he continues, reliving the experience in his head. He tries to stop tears from pouring out. ‘Until he told me he only did it to get Harry off his back…’ He starts sobbing, not able to hold it in any longer.

“Oh.” She frowns. “I’m so, so sorry.” She doesn’t say anything else, just brings him in for a big hug. He didn’t realize how much he really needed a hug until right now.

After she pulls back he just says, ‘Thank you.’

***

“Took you two long enough,” Niall greets them when they finally enter the field.

“Sorry we can’t all be as fast as you!” Lauren teases, sitting down next to Louis.

The truth is, after their chat, Zayn and Lauren had hung back a little bit longer because she wanted to be sure he was okay to go to the game. He had promised her he was; he wanted to support Liam. He appreciated, and still appreciates, her concern though. She really is an amazing friend.

“Well, you didn’t miss much,” Niall tells them, moving over so Zayn has a spot next to him. Zayn had actually been planning to sit on Louis’ other side this time, but he accepts the offer anyway, not wanting to look suspicious. “No one’s scored any goals yet.”

As Zayn tries to focus on the game, he still squirms the tiniest bit whenever Niall almost touches him. He thinks his squirms are small enough that no one else could’ve noticed, but after he does it the second time, he can feel someone’s eyes on him pretty much the rest of the game, and he already knows they’re not Lauren’s…

***

Louis doesn’t say anything to him throughout the game, or even after it’s over. But after knowing him for so long, Zayn can just tell some things, and one of those things is that Louis is thinking it. He’s thinking it a lot. The question is when he’s going to bring it up. Zayn hopes he waits at least a little bit longer.

After the game ends, they do what they did last time and go to Liam’s dressing room to congratulate him on a good game. Liam has just finished putting on his shorts and is still very wet from the shower he just took. Louis drops his jaw at the sight, making Zayn giggle.

When Liam looks up from his phone and realizes they’re all here and staring at him, he starts blushing. “Oh, hi guys. Uh… Can you knock next time or something?”

“Liam, it’s a locker room,” Niall deadpans.

“Right…” Liam quickly puts on his shirt. “Locker room. Forgot about that. So… What’s up?”

“We were just wondering if you’d like to-” Lauren starts.

“You were so amazing!” Louis nearly shouts, going up to him and hugging him all at once, not even caring about the fact that he’s still wet. “A five to zero win? Oh my gosh, you never fail to stun me.”

Liam just smiles. “Thanks babe. You never fail to stun me either.” Louis gasps, but everybody else just give each other knowing looks. “Which is why, before I answer whatever question Lauren wants to ask, I want to ask _you_ a question.”

“Okay!” Louis responds embarrassingly loud, then blushes when he realizes how loud that was.

Liam gets down on one knee, and now Zayn gasps too. Is Liam going to propose? They’ve only known each other for four days now… Then again, who is Zayn to judge if it’s love?

“Louis, will you be… my boyfriend?” Liam asks. _A boyfriend proposal_ , Zayn thinks. That is one of the sappiest things he’s ever seen, and he loves it so much.

“Yes!” Louis screams, immediately bringing Liam’s face to his into the biggest kiss. Zayn is so happy for his best friend. There’s no denying now that Liam cares for Louis deeply, and the feeling is mutual. At the same time, Zayn laughs again thinking that if Louis reacted this way to a _boyfriend_ proposal, how is he going to react to the inevitable husband proposal in a few years?

After Louis calms down - which takes a long time and eventually it stops being cute and starts being downright annoying… - Liam says yes to Lauren’s question about him joining them for the dinner, and all five of them go to the palace.

It’s not until Zayn’s eating his second plate that he realizes, again, what’s going to happen. Louis will get to stay here forever with Liam, but Zayn, tomorrow will be Zayn’s last day ever with these people. Suddenly he realizes what he needs to do. He taps Lauren’s shoulder to get her attention and tells her he wants to make an announcement.

“Okay,” she whispers back, then stands up and does that thing humans do where they tap glasses with utensils to get everybody’s attention. Zayn never got that; personally he’s always too afraid of breaking it. She then clears her throat and announces, “You all know my friend Zayn here. Well, he wants to make an announcement, so please pay attention as he and I tell you what he wants to say.”

He stands up, suddenly getting anxious. All these people are looking at him expectantly, some of them looking annoyed that they had to stop talking to each other. He turns to Lauren, about to tell her he can’t do this, but she’s looking at him like she believes in him and what he has to say. So he bites his lip and starts signing.

“I’ve met a lot of amazing people while I’ve been here,” she starts translating. “When me and my friend Louis were lost and confused, you all took us in and made us part of your home, made us feel like we belonged. So, as a thank you, I want all of us here at this table to make a painting together. Even if you can’t do anything more than stick figures, I want you to add to the painting in any way you feel comfortable doing. Because since being here, one thing I’ve learned is that art is better with friends.” Zayn makes eye contact with Niall when he signs that part, and Niall just smiles at him.

“We don’t have to all go at once,” Lauren and Zayn continue. “But I want it to be done by tomorrow night. I can’t wait to see what everybody comes up with. I have faith this will be the best painting ever. Thank you.”

After the two of them sit back down, Niall starts clapping, and it leads into pretty much the whole table clapping. Zayn and Lauren look at each other and both blush. The people here really are amazing. Zayn’s going to miss them so much.

***

Zayn is surprised it took this long before Louis said something. Then again, he thinks, last night Louis was probably so busy telling everyone he’s Liam’s boyfriend that he forgot the awkwardness he witnessed between Zayn and Niall at the game.

Now though, there’s no hiding anymore. It’s day five, after lunch, and Louis has entered Zayn’s room and wants answers.

“Zayn,” he says in a concerned voice. “What happened with you and Niall?” Even at the mention of his name, Zayn can feel uncomfortable bubbles in his tummy. “He may not have noticed a change, but I have. I see how squirmy you’ve been around him recently, at meals and at the game last night. Is there something you want to talk about?”

Zayn sighs. He really _doesn’t_ want to talk about this, actually, but he knows Louis, and Louis isn’t going to stop until he gets answers. Zayn tries to think of the best way to explain this. Suddenly he remembers the papers and crayons he has in one of his drawers, and gets them out.

He does a doodle of his face against Niall’s face in a kiss, making sure to also doodle a horrified Harry behind them, then passes it to Louis.

“So Niall kissed you? Well that’s wonderful! Unless… Oh no, do you have feelings for someone else now? Is it that Lauren girl?” Zayn immediately shakes his head. Heck no. He almost gags at the image. Lauren is like a sister to him now. Also he’s like, always been into dudes thank you very much.

He makes another doodle of himself with a heart over his head, and Niall with a broken heart over his head. Then one final doodle of Zayn and Niall talking to each other, with a thought bubble extending from Niall’s head of what he hopes conveys the image “Harry forcing Niall to marry Ben”.

Louis goes back and forth between all three doodles, trying to put it all together. “So Niall messed with your feelings just to trick Harry?!” Zayn nods, thankful his doodles made actual sense. His thankfulness soon turns into regret though, as Louis’ face turns to the angriest face he’s ever seen. “And you’re just pretending to be okay with this?! What the heck Zayn? Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’m going down to give that jerk a piece of my mind! Nobody plays with my best friend’s emotions like that!”

Zayn starts shaking his head all at once. No, no, Louis can’t do that. He tries to hold him back, but Louis easily lets go and is running out the door. Zayn runs after him, trying to stop him. No, this isn’t what Zayn wanted. Louis can’t do this. He’s just going to make things worse.

Finally, they stop at the entrance to the art room where Zayn’s group painting is. Zayn tries once again to make Louis go back, grabbing Louis’ shoulders and shaking his head.

“Don’t try to make me not do this, Zayn,” Louis demands. “No one messes with my best friend’s emotions like this and gets away with it.” Zayn’s about to start crying. He doesn’t want this at all.

From behind the door, they can hear Harry talking. “Seriously Niall, I don’t understand why you’re wasting this much time on a guy who can’t even speak for goodness sake! Spending like three hours in here, working on your part of that dumb painting. Why don’t you get out of here already and focus on finding a sensible spouse? I know Princess Ally is off the market now, but there are still many more suitable spouses for a prince out there. You shouldn’t hold yourself back with this pile of rubbish.”

“I’m not ‘holding myself back’ from anything, thank you very much.”

“There he is,” Louis whispers. One last time, Zayn tries to pull him back, but to no avail. Louis easily escapes and runs through the door.

“There you are you son of a b****!” he yells, and Zayn just sits outside the door, crying to himself. Why did he tell Louis? “How dare you kiss my best friend and pretend you liked him when you actually don’t! I oughta smash your face in for doing that to him!”

“You what?!” Harry responds, laughing all at once. “So it was fake? You don’t actually have feelings for that boy? This is fantastic! Now we can start looking for a better person for you again! Thank you for this splendid news, Louis.”

“Uh uh, this isn’t splendid news,” Louis continues. “He played with my best friend’s heart, and he’s going to pay!”

Zayn peeks in, opening the door the tiniest bit so he’s not noticed but can still see enough. It’s turned into a screaming match between Harry and Louis, the two of them fighting but at the same time both seem to be sharing a common mission: making Niall feel terrible and like a bad person. Zayn can see it all over his face; he looks like he’s about to explode.

And then he does. He sets down the paints and paintbrushes, and all at once he starts screaming himself. “STOP IT!”

Harry and Louis both fall silent at that, although Louis still looks like he could keep going if Niall gives him a reason to.

“Both of you, just stop it!” He tells them, then sighs and returns to normal speaking volume. “Look, you’re right Louis. I messed up. I did. I didn’t know Zayn had feelings for me when I kissed him, but I know I shouldn’t have done it in the first place. I was just, so tired of my grandfather and everybody else telling me I had to fall in love with someone or I was basically useless. I was so tired of it, so I wanted everybody to believe I was in love with someone so it would all just stop. And, yet, it kept going anyway.”

He wipes a tear from his face. “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I lied, but more importantly I’m sorry I messed with Zayn’s feelings. The truth is, I don’t even have a little crush on him. I don’t have a crush on any of the spouses you have so ‘generously’ ‘offered’ to me.” He rolls his eyes. “Because, Grims, I am aromantic. I’m not romantically attracted to anybody, and I never will be.”

Zayn almost wishes he could take a picture of Harry’s face right now. It’s so full of shock that it’s both hilarious and annoying.

Still, Niall continues. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about Zayn or his feelings. I’ve only known him for five days, but in that short span of time he has become one of my best friends… if not my number one best friend. Which is why I was terrified when I found out he liked me, because I was afraid I messed everything up. And maybe, based on your reaction I did.” He points to Louis.

“I love Zayn,” he says. “He’s taught me so many things, from our art sessions together, to our sandcastles, to him being the reason I decided to learn sign language. And if I have to marry anyone, it would be him. There won’t be any kisses on the lips, there won’t be any sappy honeymoon after it’s over. Probably just us going home and watching movies. But friendship love is just as important, and a million times more important to me, than romantic love. And if you have a problem with that, you can leave.”

Zayn is shocked. He opens the door, jaw just hanging open as he processes what he just heard. “Did you really mean all that?” He gasps. “Oh my gosh, I can speak again. I can speak again!!!” He immediately runs over, carefully avoiding the art supplies, and gives Niall a big hug. “I’m so happy.”

“Me too,” Niall responds, smile obvious in his voice. “And yes, I did.”


	4. When Daydreams Become Reality

Yesterday, Zayn was certain he’d never be happy again. He was certain he was going to die and be owned by Winston forever, never living to make anymore art, or see Liam and Louis get married, or anything ever again.

But Niall does care for him deeply. It’s not in the same way Zayn was originally hoping he would, but like Niall himself said, friends are just as important, if not more important. Zayn has decided he’s okay with just being friends with Niall. He’s still not completely over his crush, but he knows now that he’ll get there one day. Because they’ve both become extremely important to each other and they can’t live without each other.

Which is why it would be a huge shame if the only people Zayn is ever able to share this with are the people he knows here, and not also his family.

Zayn isn’t sure if this is going to work at first, but he decides to try anyway, dipping his body into the water, closing his eyes and holding his nose just in case. When he goes underwater though, he feels himself staying in one place, not like his adventures underwater as a human where he felt like he had to float back to the top or he would die.

He also feels something else familiar – fins. He opens his eyes and releases his nose. Sure enough, he can breathe. Before he does anything else, he goes back to the surface. He turns back and forth between a human and a merman with ease. He’s so happy.

He can’t celebrate right now though, not yet. He’s currently on a mission. He starts swimming towards the area Waliyha met up with him last time, hoping that will give him some hints.

After several minutes of looking and not finding anything, he suddenly remembers: the royal records! He starts sneaking around, using the paths that he and Louis would always use to get in and out of places without being caught.

The royal records are exactly what they sound like; a place where the royal family – his family – keep information on almost, if not all, the merpeople who live in the areas his family rule over.

Zayn remembers that Waliyha told him the name of the mermaid she was staying with was Bonnie. After making sure to not trigger any alarms, he starts looking through the files.

“Barry… Beyoncé…” He mumbles to himself while skimming through the files. “Ah here it is! Bonnie!” He opens it up and looks closely at where it says she lives. “Awesome! I know just where that is!”

He carefully puts her file back where he got it and sneaks out of there, meticulously resetting the alarms.

***

When Zayn finally gets to Bonnie’s house, he sneaks over to her window, making sure nobody else can see him. He doesn’t want anyone else to find him first, he wants to be the one to surprise them when it feels right. He peers through the window, looking inside to see if Waliyha is in there.

He’s in luck this time, as he notices Waliyha and who he guesses must be Bonnie, playing with dolls together. He’s not sure how to go about this, because either way he goes about it somebody’s definitely going to scream from shock.

He exhales and just goes for it, knocking on the window. Sure enough, Bonnie is the first to stop and look over there, starting to scream before Waliyha notices it’s her brother and covers Bonnie’s mouth, shushing her.

“Bonnie,” he just barely hears her hiss. “Calm down, it’s Zayn.” After waiting a few moments longer to make sure Bonnie will stay quiet and nobody else is coming, Waliyha swims over to the window and lets him in.

As soon as she closes the window, she brings him in for a big hug. “Oh my gosh Zayn, you’re back! Wait…” She pulls away, expression growing worried. “You’re back. What does this mean? Does Winston own you or something?”

“No,” he shakes his head, smiling. “It means I broke the spell, and I can go in and out of the water as I please.”

“Oh my gosh!” Bonnie comes over, gushing. “Does that mean you won the prince over? How romantic.”

Zayn cringes. After all that has happened now, he finds himself disgusted on both his and Niall’s behalf that anyone could imply they’re anything other than best friends. “Uh no, not exactly.” Bonnie and Waliyha both look confused, but this isn’t what he came here to talk about.

“Look,” he says seriously. “We can talk about what happened later. And I can’t wait to tell you all the story. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I want you,-” he points to his sister “-the rest of our family, and Louis’ family to all come up to the surface, just for a little bit, and celebrate me and Louis’ new lives.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Bonnie cuts in. “Can I come too?”

He giggles slightly. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask your parents. But please, wait to ask them until after me and Waliyha tell our family that we’re still alive?”

She nods, grinning from ear to ear. “Of course!” She then pulls them both in for a group hug. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

***

The closer Zayn and Waliyha get to their home, the more Zayn starts mentally freaking out. Judging by the look on his sister’s face, it’s not just him either.

When they’re only a few miles from their house and hiding behind a big bush, Waliyha finally says something.

“Are you sure we should do this?” she asks. “You and Louis could just live as humans forever on land with your friends, and I could just become Bonnie’s honorary sister.”

“Waliyha…” he says, taking her hand. “Would you really want that? Would you really want to never be able to see your parents or real sisters again? Could you live with yourself knowing that they think you and I are both dead? I couldn’t.”

She bites her lip, looking down at their hands instead of his face. “I guess not… But Zayn what if they’re angry at us?” She looks at his face now, tears in her eyes. “I don’t like it when mummy and daddy are angry at us…”

“I don’t either,” he agrees. “But I’d take them being angry at us over them thinking we’re dead any day.” He squeezes her hand three times to say ‘I love you’ and she squeezes back four times to say ‘I love you too’, then they start moving again.

When they finally arrive at the door, Zayn knows he has to be the one to go up and knock. Waliyha is too scared, lingering close behind him, and besides he’s the one who caused all of this in the first place. Hands trembling, he brings them up to the door and knocks.

After he hears the door open – he doesn’t see it because he’s looking down at his hands – he doesn’t delay. He immediately starts speaking without giving anyone, including himself, a chance to breathe.

“Okay I know what you all must be thinking right now,” he begins. “You haven’t seen either of us in five days now and suddenly we just show up out of nowhere. I know you were all worried about both of us and it was quite foolish of me to do what I did without telling you guys, but just hear me out first.

“Louis and I rescued two humans from drowning. Their names are Niall and Liam. I know their names because we’ve been spending the last five days with them on land. Yes, on land. We kind of met this guy named Winston who turned us both into humans, and the condition was me and Louis had to prove Niall and Liam, respectfully, cared deeply for us, or else we would belong to him.

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell any of you, and I’m even more sorry that Waliyha got mixed up in all of this. I didn’t want her to, but she told me she didn’t want us to get in trouble, so she’s been hiding out with her friend Bonnie for a while now. But we’re here, we’re alive, and me and Louis’ spells have been broken. I hope you can forgive us for leaving without telling you.”

Out of breath and close to tears, he stops there and prepares for the worst as he slowly looks up from his hands and to his parents and sisters, who have expressions of shock on their faces. Those expressions quickly turn into expressions of relief and happiness, and they all start talking at once, saying variations of the same thing. 'Thank god you're home' 'I'm so glad you're safe'. He even thinks he hears Safaa put a ‘yay’ in there.

Waliyha comes out of hiding from behind Zayn just in time for their family to all swim up to both of them and unite them into a gigantic group hug. Zayn giggles. It’s probably one of the most uncomfortable hugs he’s ever been a part of, but at the same time it’s the best hug he’s ever been a part of. He’s missed his family so much and is so glad they’re back in his arms (and the rest of his body).

Their parents waste no time in announcing to the whole kingdom that their children have returned and are safe and sound. About an hour passes of people coming in and out of the castle telling Zayn and Waliyha how worried they were and happy they are that they’re back. Almost none of them ask for any details, thankfully. They just say their congratulations and then move along, which Zayn is grateful for.

After most of the excitement dies down though and pretty much everybody has come in and out, his parents take him and Waliyha inside a room where they won’t be interrupted. Zayn already knows what’s about to happen.

Sure enough, as soon as the door closes, his dad’s expression is furious. “What the heck Zayn?!”

“So I take it you’re not happy.” He doesn’t know why he felt the need to say that, but it’s out before he can stop it.

“No, I’m very happy. I’m absolutely delighted that you and your sister aren’t dead and buried at the bottom of the ocean or something. But I’m also ANGRY.” He huffs and goes to take a seat at the table that Zayn didn’t even notice was in here.

“You snuck out past curfew – while you were grounded from going out might I remind you!, – you dragged Louis and your own sister down with you, you went to rescue a _human_ , and then you turned into one so you could what? Live happily ever after without even thinking for a second about what we, your actual family, would think when you didn’t come back? You were gone for five days, Zayn. _Five days_ with no notice, no anything.”

“I know, I know,” Zayn says, feeling ashamed. “But what was I supposed to say dad? That I was going to run off to become a human? You act like that would’ve been so much better!”

“It _would_ have been better Zayn,” his mom cuts in. “ _Anything_ would have been better than you just leaving out of nowhere and forcing your sister to come with you-”

“Hold on,” Waliyha interrupts. “That’s not fair. He didn’t _force_ me to do anything. I followed after him and Louis because I wanted to be part of the fun they always get into. No offense but most of the stuff you guys make us do on a regular basis is so _boring_. That night with Zayn and Louis is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”

Their parents gasp, as if the word ‘boring’ is the worst thing she could have ever said. “What do you mean you followed after them?” their mom asks her. “Waliyha, that’s so immature and so not like you.”

“Except it is like me because I did it.” She shrugs, and once again Zayn is impressed with her level of sass. He bites his lip because this is absolutely not the time to be laughing. “And anyways, why does it matter to you people if Zayn wants to be a human so bad? I know humans have hurt our kind in the past, but that doesn’t mean they’re all like that. One of them helped Zayn-”

“One of them helped him what? Become a human?” their mom raises her eyebrows, probably shocked at the idea that humans possess that much power.

“No,” Zayn de-confirms. “Remember how earlier I said it was a sea witch I met named Winston?”

“You said a lot of things at once Zayn, it was a little hard to keep up,” she tells him honestly. He shrugs, unoffended. She’s right.

“Winston...” his dad mutters. “That sounds familiar... I think I actually know about that sea witch...”

“Wait a minute… Did you say a sea witch? What?!” Now she’s yelling. “Zayn are you serious?”

“Yes…” He tells her, feeling like he’s dug his grave and is being plummeted further and further down it with each sentence he speaks. He knew this was coming though, so he needs to just get it over with. “Winston offered me and Louis a deal: we had five days to get Niall and Liam to prove they deeply cared for us, or else we would belong to him. He took away my voice and Louis’ ability to play football until we broke the spell.”

“Football?” His mom whispers to his dad, who just shrugs. Zayn opens his mouth to explain what it is, but then is cut off by his dad speaking again.

“Wait a minute, so you mean to tell me you offered yourself up to a _sea witch_ to become one of _them_?” He blinks, shocked.

“No!” Zayn immediately objects, quickly lowering his voice again. “I mean, me and Louis didn’t know that he was going to, like, keep us if we failed when we were signing the contracts. We thought we’d just turn back into mermen and never get to see the humans again.”

“Oh, so you were manipulated.” His mom frowns. “That’s sad.”

“That’s way more than just sad, Trisha! Zayn, are you sure about this? Are you sure he didn’t tell you ahead of time what was going to happen?” There’s a new fury in his dad’s eyes, one that’s not directed at him this time.

He nods, not sure where his dad is going with this. Waliyha also pipes in, “It’s true. I was down there when it happened and I heard what Winston said as I was hurriedly making my way out.”

“Okay, okay!” their dad is swimming back and forth, an energy rush clearly coming over him. “Alright, Waliyha, come with me. You too Trisha, just in case something goes wrong.”

“Okay…” Waliyha draws out, unsure. “But what’s going-?”

“I remember him now. I’ve been trying to catch him for this for years but all the witnesses to it seemingly disappear.” His dad answers. “It’s illegal for anyone to get you to sign a contract without telling you all the details. Otherwise, you’re not actually agreeing to the whole thing. You’re just ‘agreeing’ to the shortened version they’re selling to you. Well, he’s not going to get away with it this time. We’re finally putting that f***er in jail where he belongs.”

He turns to his wife now. “Trisha, grab my trident from the closet please. We need to have words with this Winston.” He turns back to his son and, before he leaves, he tells him, “Zayn, I need you to go get Louis. He has to tell his parents and his sisters that he’s still alive. Because now that everybody in the kingdom knows you’re still alive, it’s only a matter of time before they ask about their child too. Got it?”

“Yes sir,” Zayn agrees.

“Alright.” His dad claps his hands together. “Let’s go everybody!”

Just like that, his dad, Waliyha, and his mom are all off to Winston, dad’s trident in hand. Zayn blinks, trying to process what just happened, but he doesn’t have time.

His dad is right, it won’t be long before Louis’ parents and sisters start worrying about him. So Zayn swims out of the palace as fast as he can and returns to the shore, silently hoping that Louis isn’t too busy with Liam right now.

***

Because Zayn is just _so_ lucky, it turns out that Louis is not only with Liam, but with Niall too. Huffing, Zayn decides he doesn’t have time to think about how Liam and Niall are going to react, so he walks up and pulls Louis away from them.

“Hey!” Louis objects. “I was in the middle of a conversation there!”

Zayn puts his hands on Louis’ shoulders to stop him from turning around. “Alright, listen up Louis. Me and Waliyha told our parents everything, and pretty much the whole kingdom knows that we’re alive now, so it’s time for you to come clean with your parents now.”

“What’s this then?” Liam asks, concerned. “Is everything okay?”

Zayn is in such a rush right now that all pretense of hiding who he and Louis really are is gone now. “Louis has to go underwater to tell his parents that he’s alive, because all these five days that we’ve spent with you guys, our families have been convinced we’re dead or something.”

“His family lives underwater?” Niall questions, raising an eyebrow. “What, are you saying he’s some kind of mermaid or something?”

He and Liam both start laughing hard, but Zayn’s expression and tone both stay firm as he says, “Yes.”

“What?” Liam snorts. “Come on now, Louis isn’t a mermaid. Mermaids don’t exist. Louis let’s get back to the football field.”

When he tries to remove him from Zayn’s grip though, Louis just easily gets out of it. “Yes, I am.” At that, Liam freezes, his face shocked, but it also looks like he believes he’s telling the truth.

“You’re not actually believing this, are you Payno?” Niall questions, face incredulous.

“Look,” Zayn says seriously. “We’ve really gotta go like asap so if you just like, follow us and watch you’ll see.”

He and Louis start speed walking to the sea, not waiting for a response. However, he does hear Niall tell Liam “this is ridiculous” and then the sound of their footsteps following after them.

As Zayn and Louis both jump into the water, Zayn sends a prayer that once Niall and Liam realize the boys were telling the truth, they won’t think any less of them or, worse, tell other humans who could possibly do damage to their kind.

He tries not to think about that too much as the two of them swim, full speed ahead, to Louis’ house, ignoring any and all fish and other merpeople telling them to slow down. They won’t slow down, thank you very much. Not until they reach Louis’ house.

Finally, after what feels like forever but is probably only a few minutes, they arrive at last and knock on the door. When Louis’ mom, Jay, opens the door, Louis looks absolutely stunned.

Unlike Zayn, he doesn’t even try to give a speech about what all has happened. Instead, he immediately starts crying and runs into his mom’s arms. “Mummy!” he calls through sobs.

“Honey?” Jay asks, sounding equally stunned. “You’re alive. I’m so, so happy. What happened?”

It’s like Louis can’t form words other than “I missed you so much” and “I’m sorry”, both phrases of which he repeats over and over again.

“Uh…” Zayn clears his throat, drawing her attention to him. “Jay, am I allowed to come inside? I don’t think Louis is very reachable at the moment, so I can explain things for him, if you don’t mind.”

She nods, still looking awestruck by all of this. “Of course, come on in.”

Zayn sits down at a table and is joined by Louis’ sisters, his dad Mark, and Jay (with Louis still refusing to leave her arms). He tells them all the whole story, slower than he told it to his family so that they can actually keep up with everything.

He tells them how Louis rescued Liam from drowning and how he became human to be with him. He tells them how, no matter what their opinions on humans may be, Liam means a lot to Louis and it’s clear the feeling is mutual.

Louis’ parents have pretty much the opposite reaction Zayn’s parents did to the idea of Louis spending his time with a human though.

“Is that true honey?” Jay asks him. “Are you really in love with this human?”

“Yes, yes it is,” Louis tells her. “I’m in love with Liam and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him at this point, mum. I hope you can accept that.”

“Accept it?” she questions. “I am thrilled about it. I’m so, so happy to know that you have finally found someone who makes you that happy, human or not.” She pulls him in for a hug.

“Me too,” Mark agrees. “And, if he’s willing, I hope I can get to meet this young fellow at some point soon.”

Louis and Zayn both beam. Zayn is so happy for his best friend; he has the boy of his dreams, and now his parents are accepting too. He wishes his parents would be as understanding as Louis’. Maybe the two families should talk to each other, after his is done dealing with Winston and all that…

“But you know you’re still in trouble for leaving with no notice right?” Mark raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah, we’re going to have to talk about that.” Jay agrees.

“I knew it was too good to be true…” Louis grumbles.

Jay and Mark rise from the table. “Okay, girls,” Mark addresses Louis’ sisters. “Now that you know your brother is safe, it’s time for you to all get into bed.” Several mumbles of ‘ugh, but dad’ are said, but Mark ignores them. “No ‘but’s. Bed, now.” The girls all oblige, slowly but surely walking back to their rooms.

“Well, thank you for bringing Louis back to us and explaining everything, Zayn,” Jay says honestly. “We need to have a talk with him alone now though, and I’m sure your parents probably have to have one with you too.”

Zayn nods, even though the discussion with his parents is pretty much over, at least he thinks. “Okay, but after you’re done, can you please come over to my palace? All three of you?”

She looks a little unsure, but after a mental conversation with her husband, she turns back. “Alright. See you later, Zayn.”

“See ya.”

Zayn starts moving again, heading back in the direction of the palace. He looks up towards where the surface is, and wishes that he could swim up there and explain everything to Niall and Liam, but that will have to wait until later, after he’s gone to find out what happened between his parents, Waliyha, and Winston.

Still, even though he’s really concerned about them, he finds himself swimming a little bit slower than usual. This day has moved so fast, something in him just wants to relax, or at least not be swimming so fast anymore.

When he’s not really paying attention, he finds himself bump into something hard. A box. He looks up to see who was holding it and apologize/give it back, but then he freezes for a moment as he sees who it is. Winston.

He gasps, but something’s telling him to not let go of the box, so he doesn’t. Instead he runs to hide behind a big plant. He knows it’s a ridiculous idea because Winston already saw him do it, but he’s hoping it buys him some time.

Winston laughs maniacally. “Really Zayn? You’re hiding from me now? And with my box too? Oh for goodness sake. What do you think you’re going to do? Destroy me?”

“Destroy? Who said anything about destroying?” Zayn looks down at the box. “Wait a minute, this is the box you kept my voice in all those days.”

“Yes,” Winston confirms. “It was quite a treasure to be honest. I already miss it.”

“Well you’re not getting it back.” Zayn keeps moving around every time Winston comes closer, trying to think of what to do. Are his parents and Waliyha alright? Does Winston own them too now?

“Oh? And what makes you so sure of that? See whether you broke your spell or not, you still don’t have magic, not like I do.” He pauses for a moment, and Zayn hears what sounds like a net being put around him.

“Zayn!” it’s his dad’s voice. That means he’s alive. Zayn’s so relieved. “Break the box! It controls Winston’s magic!”

“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous. I was born with magic, why would I keep it in a silly box of all places?” Winston says, but his voice has the slightest hint of being scared now. And besides, if it didn’t come from the box, wouldn’t he have been able to free himself from the net Zayn’s father has him in right now? “Zayn, no-”

Zayn breaks the box, and suddenly a whole bunch of things come out of it and make their way towards Winston’s lair. Zayn hopes whatever they are, they’re getting returned to their rightful owners.

Once he’s sure he’s done enough damage to the box, he peeks out from behind the bush he’s still in and sees that Winston is struggling and struggling, looking weaker by the second. “No… Please, no…”

Zayn’s dad uses his trident to pull the net tighter and says, “Unlike you, I don’t enjoy taking away merpeople’s lives for fun. So, instead of doing that, you will be locked away in the merman prison forever.” He smirks maliciously. “Hope you live forever.”

“No, please no-”

It’s too late for Winston to beg though, because he’s now being magically sent away to the prison. Zayn walks over and hugs his dad. “Thank you so much dad.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you, Zayn,” he smiles, hugging his son back. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks Zayn,” Waliyha says. “But you know, I totally could’ve handled him myself too!” They all giggle and unite in a group hug.

All of a sudden they hear people behind them cheering, calls of “yay!” and “thank you!” can be heard throughout the crowd. They turn around and Zayn senses something familiar about them. They’re the other merpeople that Winston had ‘owned’. Zayn isn’t sure how he knows that, but he just does. He grins at all of them, so happy that they are free from Winston at last.

***

As Zayn, his parents, and Waliyha all start heading back to the palace, he catches them up to speed on his visit to Louis’ family, and how they reacted to his and Zayn’s adventures on the surface.

“Wait, so they weren’t angry that he’d been spending all that time with _humans_?” His mom asks, surprised.

“Well, I mean, they were still angry that he left without any notice whatsoever. But when I told them how happy Liam made him, they were just happy that he’d found someone who could do that for him, you know?”

His mom nods slowly, then stays pretty much silent for the rest of the swim home. He had already told all of them on the way there that Louis and his parents were coming over, but none of them had expected them to already be there waiting.

“Hi!” Jay greets excitedly.

“Uh… hi…” Zayn’s dad responds. “We weren’t expecting you to be here already.”

“Well, we weren’t expecting you all to be gone when we got here,” she giggles. “Is it alright if we come in or should we come back later?”

“No, of course. Let’s all go in.”

When they’re finally inside and the parents are all already conversing with each other, Zayn, Louis, and Waliyha decide to move out of the way and talk amongst themselves.

“So… your dad has a gigantic fork?” is the first thing out of Louis’ mouth. It’s way funnier to Zayn than it probably should be, and he finds himself laughing so hard he snorts.

“It’s called a trident, Louis.” Zayn corrects.

“But ‘gigantic fork’ sounds so much better!” Louis objects, causing Zayn to laugh some more. “Anyway, what does it do? I’ve never seen it before now.”

“Neither had I,” Zayn admits. “I guess he rarely uses it unless it’s necessary.” He kind of wishes his dad would use it more often though, both because it’s cool and because that way he would’ve known about magic existing before meeting Winston, and honestly what kid doesn’t want to know magic exists?

“Anyway,” he continues, getting back to reality. “He used it to capture Winston in a net. I don’t know what else it can do but-”

“Wait, wait, hold on a second.” Louis cuts him off. “Is Winston gone then?”

“Well, he’s not dead if that’s what you mean…” Louis looks slightly disappointed, but lights back up again when Zayn continues. “He is in jail though. I kind of took away his magic though, by breaking that box that held my voice in it.”

“Woah, okay you have to fill me in on _everything_!” Louis demands.

“Well…” Zayn looks down at his sister, who looks like she feels a little awkward listening to Zayn and Louis talk and not being asked about anything. “I wasn’t there for everything myself, so maybe Waliyha can tell you all about it.”

She immediately smiles at that, looking at him like he just announced that Christmas has come early. Then she starts spilling all the details about how she and her parents had gone after Winston to arrest him, but then he took his box and started running away, blasting things at them every few minutes. Luckily the trident protected them and Zayn’s dad fought back.

Zayn and Louis are both enjoying every minute of the story, but then just as she’s about to get to the part where Zayn broke the box, their parents cut in.

“Hi,” their mom greets. “Zayn, do you think me and your father can talk to you alone?”

“Of course…” Zayn responds, already getting nervous. He turns back to Louis and Waliyha and tells them, “go on and finish the story. I already know this part anyway.” He winks and then follows his parents as they lead him into another room.

“Zayn,” his mom starts. “We’re still mad that you left without telling us, especially because you were already grounded, so don’t think you’re off the hook in any way, shape, or form.”

He gulps, preparing for them to tell him what his punishment will be. “Yeah,” he mutters. “I know…”

“But,” she continues. “Having said that, after doing some thinking, as well as talking it through with Louis’ parents, we think that we would be bad parents if we didn’t allow you to go back and live as a human, if that’s what you want to do.” Zayn is shocked. This is too good to be true.

“But only if…” his dad looks serious and he prepares, again, for a punishment statement. Quickly his face turns into a smile though. “You promise to come and visit at least once a month.”

Zayn feels the happiest he can ever remember being at that statement. “Of course!” He jumps into his parents’ arms, hugging them both tightly. “I love you mum and dad.”

“We love you too,” his mom tells him. “Now, what are we all doing in here? Let’s go out there and celebrate the fact that both you and Louis are alive!”

***

Harry’s voice is the first thing Louis and Zayn hear when they get closer to the surface. He’s talking to Niall, from the sound of it.

“Honestly, Niall, I knew all that talking to this Zayn boy would go to your head,” he’s saying. “ _Mermaids_? You can’t seriously believe in that.”

“Louis,” Zayn whispers, a flashbulb going off in his brain. “Follow my lead.”

He jumps up suddenly, using his tail to spray water in Harry’s face in order to get his attention. Then he flips, making enough of a show of his tail that Harry can’t miss it.

“Zayn, I can’t do that. I’m not fit enough for it!”

“Come on Louis, you and Liam were practicing a lot of football before we left, yeah?” Zayn challenges. “Besides, you don’t have to make it dramatic or anything. Just show off enough of your tail so that Harry can see it.”

“And what would I want Niall’s pinhead grandfather checking out my a*** for? He doesn’t deserve to see all this flawlessness.” With one final glare from Zayn though, Louis exhales and does as told.

“Okay what the heck is going on here?!” Harry yells. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“No,” Zayn says, as he and Louis walk together, their tails turning into legs as they make their way up. “It’s not a joke, your grandson is telling the truth.” He makes eye contact with Niall and grins. “Hey Niall. Sorry about having to hurry out on you and Liam. I’m glad to see you again.”

“I am too,” Niall responds, returning the happy expression. “I mean, I still would like an explanation or two but…”

“I promise you will get them,” Zayn assures him. He never wants to keep any secrets from Niall, especially when it’s about who he actually is. “But, before we get into the nitty gritty, there’s someone me and Louis want you, Lauren, and Liam to meet. Are they here?”

“Uh, yeah.” Niall starts looking around. “Let me go get them. Be right back.”

“Wait,” Harry says when Niall’s already on the move. “I still don’t understand.”

“Well, Harry, it’s actually pretty simple,” Louis puts an arm on his shoulder, getting it all wet. “Me and Zayn are mermaids, and you’re a giant tw*t who needs to let your aromantic grandson live his own darn life.” He shrugs, going back over to Zayn.

“Hey hold on a moment, you can’t tell me what to-”

“Here they are!” Niall calls, walking over with Lauren and Liam following behind him. Liam immediately goes to hug Louis, not even caring about the fact that Louis is soaking wet. If being in love with someone means Zayn has to hug them even when one of them is wet, Zayn thinks he’s okay with not doing the whole ‘romance’ thing for a while.

“Hi Zayn,” Lauren says, waving.

Zayn can’t help it, he immediately starts getting his hands ready to sign even though he can speak now. But then he thinks, why can’t he sign even if he can speak? Why can’t he do both?

“Hi Lauren,” he both says and signs, smiling. He wonders if Lauren would be willing to keep teaching him sign language, even if he can talk now. He thinks it’s a very good skill to have if he’s going to be living up here for the most part.

“Alright!” he announces now, getting everybody to quiet down. “I know a lot of you are probably confused about a lot of things concerning me and my friend Louis and where we came from and all that, but before we talk about any of that, we both want to introduce you to someone. A few someones, in fact.”

Slowly but surely, Louis and Zayn’s families (with Bonnie and her parents as honorary guests) start rising from the water, causing everyone to gasp. “Everybody, we would like to introduce you to… our families.”

***

After that day, everything seems to become perfect. Louis and Zayn eventually explain everything to their friends. Some are understanding, some are wary, but in the end they all promise they won’t reveal the existence of mermaids to anyone else.

Harry seemed to stop running his mouth after he found out from Zayn’s father that Zayn is actually royalty where he comes from. Zayn thinks that’s a ridiculous reason to start respecting him, personally, but he’s just glad he and Niall don’t have to hear him complaining every day anymore.

Niall and Zayn get friendship-married, and what do you know, they actually do go back home and watch some movies after it’s over. Zayn immediately falls in love with the superhero collection Niall has.

Lauren keeps teaching Niall and Zayn more sign language, and now that it’s something they want to do instead of something they need to do, she gets more breaks in between sessions. Zayn and Louis still go down to visit their families when they can, and in return their families go on shore when they’re positive no one else will be coming.

Zayn chases his dreams and becomes a world renowned painter, with the painting that he and his friends co-painted together becoming one of his most treasured works. Louis ends up getting to play for a prestigious post-college football team for several years, winning many amazing awards. His team and Liam's team end up going head to head a few times, and their coaches always end up having to sit both of them out because they pay more attention to each other than to playing the game.

But the best part of all of it is that, at the end of the day, Zayn and Louis both get to go back home to the people who mean the most to them: Niall and Liam.

Zayn has learned that Niall was right, friendship is definitely way more important than romance to him now. And he can’t wait to be best friends with Niall forever, watching superhero movies and painting things with each other until they die.

In the end, they all, one way or another, lived happily ever after.

 

 

Except Winston, that guy got to rot in jail until his dying day.


End file.
